Last year, scores of wild boar at Shuklaphanta National Park died from infection of African Swine fever virus. The same virus spread in several districts, killing tens of thousands of domestic boars and pigs, which not only destroyed the nascent pork industry but also forced many farmers to give up the profession.

African swine fever is a highly contagious viral pig disease. The virus is transmitted through direct contact with infected pigs, wild boars, and ticks. The virus can also survive for several months in processed meat and several years in frozen carcasses.

What worries experts much is that authorities in the country are still clueless whether the virus was transmitted from wild boars to domestic pigs or vice versa, and the actual extent of losses incurred.

African Swine fever virus is among the shared infectious zoonotic diseases at the livestock-wildlife interface, which has been emerging as a new challenge in the country like Nepal, which is ill prepared to handle.

Several factors including exponential growth in animal and human populations, rapid urbanization, evolving farming systems, closer integration between livestock and wildlife, encroachment into forests, shifts in ecosystems, globalisation of animal and animal product trade, and changes in pathogen-host ecology, have contributed to the increased emergence of new infections, according to a new report.

The report titled “Shared infections at the wildlife-livestock interface and their impact on public health, economy and biodiversity” published in Animal Frontiers, an official journal of the American Society of Animal Science stated that the disease spillover and transmission dynamics have been changing due to the changing climatic conditions, triggering more outbreaks at all different interfaces, mostly viral diseases within all production groups.

“African swine fever virus is among the zoonotic diseases, which has spilled over from wild to domestic animals, from which thousands of people in our country have been affected by its outbreak,” said Dr Dibesh Karmacharya, executive director of Center for Molecular Dynamics Nepal. “Most of the zoonotic diseases have crossed over from the wild and transmitted to domestic animals and humans.”

Avian flu of bird flu, tuberculosis, Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (MERS) are among the diseases that spilled over from wildlife.

At least one person had died from infection of H5N1 bird flu virus in 2019, in Nepal. Hundreds of thousands of chickens were culled due to outbreaks of the virus in various poultry farms throughout the country. Hundreds of farmers were affected and gave up the profession. It is estimated that around 20 percent of domesticated elephants in Nepal have been infected with tuberculosis. Experts say that risk of pathogen transmission between domesticated elephants and wild population always exists due to their interaction.

The report stated that it is crucial to establish an enhanced disease surveillance system, implement effective risk mitigation and management strategies and foster coordination and collaboration among national, regional and global and non-governmental agencies and stakeholders.

“Surveillance is a crucial part to reduce the risk of outbreaks and spillover of the deadly diseases,” said Dr Chandra Dhakal, information officer at the Department of Livestock Services under the Ministry of Agriculture and Livestock Development. “We have stepped up surveillance measures and alerted agencies concerned to increase vigilance over the risks.”