What are the main challenges in eradicating ASF?

According to the latest report published by the Spanish Ministry of Agriculture on the African swine fever (ASF) situation in the EU, the main problems that affected European countries face in eradicating the disease in domestic pigs are:

• Marked seasonal spikes in the summer
• Most cases are on farms with less than 10 pigs.
• Most cases have been caused by environmental factors due to contamination by wild boar.
• Occasional occurrence happens on commercial farms, so biosecurity must be upheld at all times.

The greatest problems with wild boar are:

• Persistence even with low densities of wild boar
• High population densities of wild boar in certain areas / environmental resistance to ASF virus
• Virus jumps geographically by human means
• Slow, but notable natural spread (between 2.9 and 11.7 km/year is the average rate of spread)
• Higher probability of occurrence and spread/repetition of cycles