Let us recall: the case began in early June, when the first ASF outbreak in wild boars in the province was confirmed in the Brodnica district. The case initially seemed clear – the nearest cluster of the disease in wild boars is located relatively close (approx. 25 km), hence it was natural to link both locations.
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Bad news from northern Poland. We have the first ASF outbreak in the Kuyavian-Pomeranian Voivodeship
Doubts in this matter were recently sown by the Kuyavian-Pomeranian Voivode, who in a statement for the Polish Press Agency suggested that the occurrence of ASF in the Brodnica area may not have been a coincidence. The voivode supported this thesis with the results of genetic tests of the virus strain in a shot wild boar.
"This may give rise to the hypothesis that the wild boar was intentionally brought to our province and abandoned here," the voivode said in an interview with PAP.
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Kuyavian-Pomeranian Voivodeship: Two ASF outbreaks in Chełmno County
Humans may have contributed to the transmission of ASF
While initially such words could be considered a conspiracy theory, it turns out that they have at least a grain of truth in them. In an interview with Farmer.pl, the provincial veterinarian Wojciech Młynarek confirmed that a human could have been responsible for transferring the virus to the Brodnica district:
– Genotyping tests were carried out on the strain of the virus found in this animal. They showed that we are dealing with a strain of the virus occurring in the Wielkopolska, Lubuskie or Zachodniopomorskie provinces. In no case is it a genotype occurring in the Warmian-Masurian province, from where it could have entered the region naturally. If we are talking about a strain from western Poland, it is practically impossible for it to have entered our region through other wild boars. It is very likely that humans contributed to this – said the provincial veterinarian in Bydgoszcz in an interview with our editorial office.
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Fatal news from Kuyavian-Pomeranian Voivodeship. An outbreak of ASF in pigs deep in the province
Coincidence or deliberate action?
We are currently unable to answer this question, and what is more, we will probably never be 100% certain about this issue. There have already been reports in the public sphere about deliberate "planting" of ASF (such voices were heard primarily in 2014, after the plague crossed the border between Poland and Belarus), but no one has proven that these suspicions were true. It will probably be the same now. Theoretically, it is of course possible to intentionally plant a corpse, but it could just as well have been an accidental transmission of the virus (e.g. through food leftovers).
