African Swine Fever: 36,632 Pigs Dead, 930 Farms Infected
Serbia's African swine fever toll has climbed to 36,632 dead and culled pigs across 930 infected farms. In the seventeen days since the last count, 2,782 more pigs were lost.
In seventeen days, the number of pigs that died or were culled because of African swine fever in Serbia rose by 2,782, reaching 36,632 in total. The figure was given on Sunday by Dragan Glamocic, minister of agriculture, forestry and water management, in an interview with Radio Television of Serbia (RTS).
The count the minister presented includes:
- 36,632 dead and culled pigs
- 930 infected farms
- seven districts, 13 municipalities and 62 towns and villages
The total combines two separate categories: animals that died from the disease and animals removed by culling at outbreak sites. The ministry publishes them as a single figure, so the public count does not show how much of it comes from preventive culling and how much from the disease itself.
Toll up 8.2 percent in two and a half weeks
On July 30, Glamocic reported that 33,850 pigs had died or been culled since the start of the year. The gap between the two counts is 2,782 animals, an increase of 8.2 percent, or roughly 164 pigs a day on average, in a stretch of time the minister describes as calmer than the one before it.
The same math shows how far the outbreak has spread across the country. This is no longer a matter of one large facility but a network of 930 farms across 62 towns and villages, each requiring surveillance, a ban on animal movement and the removal of livestock.
Sporadic cases, but no easing of oversight
The pace of new outbreaks has slowed, the minister says.
“In the past week, cases have been sporadic,” Glamocic said, adding that “there is no room for letting our guard down.”
There is no vaccine against the African swine fever virus, which has been present in Serbia since 2019. That is why the disease is fought not through treatment but by removing animals and shutting down farms, measures that hit breeders’ income directly.
Wherever it gets in, it doesn't leave. It just sits there and waits.
That is how the minister described the virus’s behavior once it reaches a farm. The disease lingers in the environment even after culling is complete, so restocking a barn is delayed until disinfection is carried out and the facility sits empty for a set period.
Is meat from infected pigs dangerous to humans?
No. The virus is not transmitted to humans and poses no health risk to consumers, the minister stressed.
“Even if that meat were eaten, the virus has absolutely no effect on humans,” Glamocic said.
That confines the damage to the production side: lost livestock, halted fattening cycles, movement restrictions and a drop in domestic supply, with no impact on demand tied to food safety concerns.
One farm accounts for nearly a third of the toll
The single largest blow came on July 9, when culling began at the Mistral Komerc farm in Hrtkovci, where more than 11,000 pigs infected with African swine fever were destroyed. That one site accounts for roughly 30 percent of this year’s entire toll.
The remaining roughly 25,600 animals are spread across the other 930 farms. That structure shifts the loss from a handful of large operations onto a large number of small breeders, where oversight is harder to maintain and compensation comes more slowly.
The disease has been registered in seven districts, and the number of affected towns and villages has grown to 62. Until that figure stops climbing, every new count from the ministry will measure the same thing: how many pigs have vanished from production between one report and the next.
In the same interview, the minister also addressed sunflower seed purchase prices. He said the advance price of 40 dinars per kilogram was too low and noted that he had received word that same morning that offers had already climbed past 50 dinars. The final price, he said, will not be set for about another month, since it is also shaped by market trends in Ukraine and Russia.
