Classical swine fever

Classical swine fever (CSF) or hog cholera (also sometimes called pig plague based on the German word Schweinepest) is a highly contagious disease of swine (Old World and New World pigs). Swine fever causes fever, skin lesions, convulsions, and usually (particularly in young animals) death within 15 days. The signs are indistinguishable from those of African swine fever. A small fraction of the infected pigs may survive and are rendered immune. Artificial immunization procedures were first developed by Marion Dorset. The disease is endemic in much of Asia, Central and South America, and parts of Europe and Africa. It was believed to have been eradicated in the United Kingdom by 1966 (according to the Department for Environment, Food & Rural Affairs), but an outbreak occurred in East Anglia in 2000. It was eradicated in the United States by 1978, according to the United States Department of Agriculture.