The United States updates its ASF Response Plan

The United States Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) has updated its African swine fever (ASF) strategic plan and expanded it into a full response plan as part of its ongoing efforts to strengthen response capabilities in the event of an outbreak.

This plan incorporates and supersedes previous versions of the ASF Disease Response Strategies, from which this plan evolved. Among other updates, this expanded response plan includes:

• A comprehensively integrated feral swine response.
• An expansive chapter that discusses control and eradication strategies for both domestic and feral swine.
• Specific response actions that will be taken if ASF is detected.
• Changes to surveillance guidance.
• An extensive epidemiology section to include updates to zone, area, and premises designations specifically for ASF.
• An information management section.

See the full version of the plan here: ASF Response Plan: The Red Book May 2020