African swine fever and classical swine fever (hog cholera) among wild boar in Sardinia

Although spread of the infection among the wild boar population has been demonstrated (about 5% being positive each year), the mortality caused by ASF is slight in comparison with that occurring in domestic pigs, and with the mortality caused by classical swine fever in wild boar in the same regions. This might be due to a certain degree of resistance to ASF in the wild population. The absence of virus in seropositive wild boars, and the results of a study of the annual evolution of positive titres in five similar territories, leads to the conclusion that the wild population becomes free from the virus within a relatively short time.