African swine fever (ASF) outbreaks in domestic pigs in Romania have fallen sharply in recent years, from around 1,600 in November 2021 to 21 in March 2026, however the virus remains active in the wild, President of the National Veterinary Sanitary and Food Safety Authority (ANSVSA) Alexandru Nicolae Bociu told AGERPRES.
"The situation has improved significantly in recent years. In November 2021, when I took the office, there were around 1,600 ongoing outbreaks and over 80 farms were affected. The trend from 2022 to the present has been positive. Specifically, at the beginning of March 2025 there were 73 outbreaks in domestic pigs, six of which were in industrial commercial farms and currently there are 21 active outbreaks, one of them in a commercial farm," Bociu mentioned.
At the start of this year, Romania recorded 48 ASF outbreaks.
According to the ANSVSA data, the highest prevalence of the disease is recorded in households of Bihor county (6 outbreaks), Salaj (5 outbreaks), Satu Mare and Mures (3 outbreaks each). Moreover, two major outbreaks have been reported in commercial farms: one in January in a farm of Arad county, where over 5,500 pigs were culled and another, at the end of February, in Neamt County, where over 8,600 animals were culled.
"The virus, however, persists in the wild, where 330 outbreaks were reported at the beginning of March 2026, compared with 200 in the same period last year," the ANSVSA president c onveyed.
The European Commission has recently updated the restriction zones for ASF, both for domestic pigs and wild boar, in several European Union member states, including Bulgaria, Germany, Poland, Greece and Romania.
Regarding vaccination, the ANSVSA president mentioned that the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) has not yet approved a vaccine against ASF for widespread use in the European Union.
Concerning the sheep and goat plague (PPR), Bociu underscored that the situation remains under strict monitoring in 2026.
According to the quoted source, the restriction period has been extended until 30 June 2026 through the Decision no. 2631/2025.
In respect to the highly pathogenic avian influenza (H5N1), Bociu mentioned that five cases have been confirmed in wild birds in Ilfov, Vaslui and Neamt counties, as well as an outbreak in domestic birds at the Saon Monastery in Niculitel, Tulcea county. In the farm, there were 278 susceptible birds, of which 60 died and 218 were culled through the "stamping out" procedure, in accordance with the legislation.
Another important topic was sheep and goat pox, confirmed for the first time in Romania in June 2025 through an isolated case in Teleorman county, with the last case confirmed at the end of November 2025. "In total, 27 outbreaks were recorded, resulting in the culling of 7,542 animals (6,093 sheep and 1,449 goats), while 276 animals were found dead. In November, the European Commission issued the Implementing Decision no. 2415/2025, establishing strict measures and restriction zones until 31 January 2026. All outbreaks were eradicated by the end of 2025," ANSVSA President Alexandru Bociu concluded.
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