African Swine Fever Expands in EU Pigs and Wild Boar, With Spain Back on the Map

African swine fever gained ground again in the European Union in 2025, with outbreaks increasing in both domestic pigs and wild boar compared with the previous year.

According to the European Food Safety Authority, outbreaks rose by 76% on pig farms and by 44% in wild populations, underlining the continued pressure the disease places on animal health, biosecurity and wildlife management.

EFSA put the number of outbreaks in domestic pigs within the EU at 585, up from 333 in 2024. Much of that increase was linked to Romania, which accounted for 81% of the EU’s domestic pig notifications. Most outbreaks, 91%, occurred on holdings with fewer than 100 pigs.

Wild boar remain central to Europe’s ASF crisis

In wildlife, EFSA recorded 11,036 outbreaks in wild boar, the highest figure in the EU since 2021. Poland accounted for nearly one in three wild boar cases reported, while several countries showed clear winter peaks, including Hungary, Italy, Poland, Romania and Slovakia.

Surveillance also reached record levels. The EU agency said more than 518,000 domestic pig samples and more than 618,000 wild boar samples were analysed in 2025.

EFSA highlighted the importance of passive surveillance, based on detecting and testing dead or suspected animals. That approach identified 84% of outbreaks in domestic pigs and 73% of outbreaks in wild boar.

Spain returns to the European ASF map

One of the most significant findings in the report is the reappearance of the disease in Spain after more than three decades without detections. EFSA said Spanish authorities notified the first outbreaks in wild boar since 1995 in Catalonia, bringing the number of affected EU Member States to 14.

Spain’s Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food is maintaining specific monitoring of the Catalan focus. Its initial report states that on November 28, 2025, the detection of two positive wild boar was confirmed in Cerdanyola del Vallès, in the province of Barcelona. It was Spain’s first detection since November 1994.

The scientific advisory committee created by the ministry said that, up to the end of January 2026, positive cases remained confined to the high-risk area defined around the initial focus, with no detections in domestic pigs.

The committee also recalled that African swine fever affects domestic and wild suids, is not zoonotic and has no authorised effective vaccines or treatments in the EU.

Unknown origin and renewed pressure on biosecurity

EFSA added that genetic analysis of the virus detected in Spain did not find a close match with known strains currently circulating in Europe, and that the source of introduction has not been identified. That leaves a key part of the epidemiological investigation open.

The EU-wide picture once again places the wild boar at the centre of a crisis linking animal health, farm biosecurity, wildlife management and the pig sector.

For hunters and game managers, the case reinforces the importance of carcass surveillance, rapid reporting of findings and close coordination with veterinary authorities when African swine fever appears in the natural environment.