MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

African swine fever outbreak in Bulgaria: 24.000 pigs to be culled

The outbreak is the first at an industrial farm since August when the virus hit six breeding farms in the Balkan country, forcing to cull over 130,000 pigs.

Bulgarian veterinary authorities said on Friday they would cull 24,000 pigs after detecting an outbreak of African swine fever at a pig farm in the northeast of the country.

The outbreak is the first at an industrial farm since August when the virus hit six breeding farms in the Balkan country, forcing the vet authorities to cull over 130,000 pigs.

The outbreak was detected at a farm in the village of Nikola Kozlevo in the region of Shumen, the food safety agency said. The highly contagious disease affects pigs but not humans.