The outbreaks in Hesse are remarkable as these constitute the first outbreaks of the virus in wild boar in West-Germany, after having been present in wild boar populations near the Polish border for about 4 years.
The last 2 cases were found on July 2, further to the south, as far as Riedstadt. The distance between the latest discovered carcasses and the original one on June 14 is about 15 km as the crow flies. So far, no farms with domestic pigs have been found infected.
So far, no explosion of cases
The first case in Hesse was discovered on June 14. As always, with this type of find, the following days and weeks will show whether or not this was a one-off infection or whether the virus has spread to other animals as well. A number of 9 wild boar shows that the virus did spread, but so far it does not look like an explosion of cases.
Various zones
Following European Union contingency rules, both an inner restricted (core) zone has been established, as well an outer infected zone. The latter has already been expanded as a consequence of the most recent findings. It now includes parts of the neighbouring state Rhineland-Palatinate as well.
The infected zone is in a relatively densely populated area, including Frankfurt-am-Main, Darmstadt, Wiesbaden and Mainz. The last two are even entirely inside the so-called infected zone, and so is Frankfurt’s airport. Especially in the inner core zone, all kinds of agricultural limitations apply.
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