Following the confirmation made by Serbia of the occurrence of African swine fever in some of pig farms in that country, Croatia's Agriculture Ministry on Wednesday called on pig farmers to strictly comply with preventive measures against this viral disease of pigs and wild boars.

The purpose of preventive measures is to detect at early stages any transmission of the virus so as to fend off the outbreak of this disease in Croatia.

The ministry cites a list of measures which pig farmers are supposed to take. Members of the general public in Croatia are urged to buy pork in registered shops.

The virus causes a haemorrhagic fever with high mortality rates in domestic pigs; some isolates can cause death of animals as quickly as a week after infection. It does not cause disease in humans.

Serbia’s agriculture ministry on Tuesday confirmed that African swine fever had been detected in three villages in the Mladenovac area.

In the meantime Bosnia and Herzegovina imposed a ban on the import of pigs and pork from Serbia.