African swine fever (ASF), a disease only contagious in pigs and wild boars, has been spreading across the Caucasus region, Europe and Asia since 2007, but has not yet reached the United States. Since the 2018 outbreak in China, the country has slaughtered an estimated 1,170,000 animals.
Following the recent spread of ASF in Asia and western Europe,
a team of researchers from around the world
, including some from the University of Minnesota College of Veterinary Medicine, set out to measure the risk of ASF entering the United States through the smuggling of pork products in air passenger luggage.
Their findings were recently published
in the journal Scientific Reports.