Rare Virus Threatens Georgian Livestock

The Georgian government is scrambling to control the region's first outbreak of African swine fever, a deadly DNA virus. While international organizations have praised the government's overall response, the initial slow reaction has already caused thousands of small farmers to lose their entire pig population.

According to the Georgian Ministry of Agriculture, ten percent of the country's estimated 500,000 pigs have already died from the disease, known as ASF, which has spread to nearly every region of the country. In a recent joint mission report, the United Nation's Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), the European Commission and the World Organization for Animal Health (OIE) stated the outbreak has reached 52 of the country's 65 districts. There is no cure or known vaccination for ASF.

"There is a real prospect that Georgia may lose most of its pig population to ASF within the next 1-3 months," the June 22 report stated. "Endemic infection is a possibility due to several factors. Even with an aggressive response, finding all free ranging pigs and eliminating the disease in this population will be difficult."

FAO Asssistant Representative to Georgia Mamuka Meskhi predicted that the total cost for Georgian farmers will be "huge." He noted that the FAO is also concerned about food security this winter, since many rural families depend on household pigs for food.
"It will be a big hit for livelihood," Meskhi said. "If not a catastrophe, [the impact will be] quite serious."

First Deputy Agriculture Minister Bakur Kvezereli, however, says that it is too early to estimate the total economic blow to Georgian farmers. The government, he said, is "in the process" of calculating the total costs to farmers, and only expects a "full picture" of the disease by the end of the year.

The exact date and source of the ASF outbreak are unknown, although Georgian media began floating stories about possible cases in the western regions of Guria and Samegrelo as early as March. The popularity of the regions' pigs among farmers made for a relatively rapid movement of the disease from western to eastern Georgia. The virus, thought to have originated in the port city of Poti, can be spread by indirect contact such as ticks or garbage or by direct contact with sick pigs. It does not affect humans.

The FAO maintains that the government's "delayed detection" of the problem exacerbated matters. One senior Georgian official, however, insists that they took every precaution possible.

First Deputy Agriculture Minister Kvezereli says that regional veterinarians initially believed that other diseases were causing the pig deaths. In May – after the deaths of over 13,000 pigs – the government sent samples to an OIE reference laboratory in the United Kingdom, which finally identified the disease as African swine fever.

"[In the beginning] the Georgian government thought about [porcine] circovirus and we sent samples to Ukraine and they also confirmed that it was the [porcine] circovirus," he said. Porcine circovirus is a more common DNA virus that can cause respiratory problems, skin and kidney disease, among other complications, according to the US National Pork Board and the American Association of Swine Practitioners.

The FAO's Meskhi, however, puts the delay down to a "lack of laboratory capabilities" and inexperience with the disease – never before found this far north – rather than government neglect. While there were reports of pigs dying in western Georgia as early as January or February, Meskhi said, testing for ASF requires special chemicals that Georgian veterinary laboratories do not have.

"As soon as they [the Georgian government] got the information, they started to take measures but again their efforts and the government efforts and activities could be more energetic," Meskhi said.

The FAO has expressed concern that ASF, previously unknown in the South Caucasus, could spread to other Eurasian countries like Armenia and Ukraine. The lack of a concrete action plan is critical, Meskhi argued.

But First Deputy Agriculture Minister Kvezereli maintains the government has already taken steps to confine the disease: there is a ban on all trade in pig parts in the country and both Azerbaijan and Armenia have taken steps to increase controls at the border. There are also new disinfecting points at the Georgian ports of Poti and Batumi. Gurian farmers say they have been told that pigs wandering loose will be shot, but free-roaming pigs can still be seen in both western and eastern Georgia.

According to the World Organization for Animal Health, death from African Swine Fever can occur within six to 13 days, or as long as 20 days. Some Gurian farmers, however, have reported death within hours. Vomiting, diahhrea, fever and even anorexia are all symptoms of the disease.

The ministry, Kvezereli said, has also already developed short, medium and long-term steps to control and eliminate the pestilence, and, eventually, repopulate pig stocks throughout the country. A special task force is at work in the regions to identify and contain infected areas, dispose of infected pigs and disinfect pig pens. International experts will be called in to advise about the repopulation program, the deputy minister said.

For now, though, compensation does not figure into that repopulation plan. According to Kvezereli, there is no way to fairly compensate farmers for their losses since there is no practice of registering pigs in Georgia.

The EU/FAO/OIE mission report in June put the estimated cost of such a compensation plan at $25 million – nearly the entire 2007 budget for the Ministry of Agriculture.

"We are not compensating them for the pigs because they are not registered. They have no documents on the pigs – what is the weight of the pigs or how many they have," elaborated First Deputy Minister Kvezereli. "Our pig business is not a farm business, but a family business. One owner has two or three pigs. We cannot organize the payment."

For now, the government sees determining where and how the disease entered the country as the most important next step for preventing a fresh round of infections. Another expert mission from the FAO is expected to arrive in July to start a month-long investigation into the disease's source.