African swine fever (ASF) is a serious, highly contagious viral disease of pigs, both domestic and wild, with a high mortality rate. It is not hazardous to humans or other domestic animal species. Particularly high virus concentrations are found in blood and tissue, but the virus is also excreted in saliva, urine, faeces or sperm.

African swine fever is transmitted by direct contact from animal to animal or by indirect contact, for example via virus contaminated objects, feedstuffs, food waste etc. People can also transmit the virus after contact with infected animals, for example via dirty hands, shoes or clothing.

A wide-ranging package of official measures has been passed for preventing or limiting the spread of such an animal disease. For instance, in the event of an outbreak of the disease in domestic pigs, the measures include the slaughter and safe disposal of all the pigs on the affected farm, followed by thorough cleaning and disinfection of the sheds and other installations.

Personal protective equipment (PPE) for controlling animal diseases

Suitable personal protective equipment (PPE) is accordingly required for the above activities in order to

• prevent the disease from spreading into previously uninfected areas and
• protect the personnel carrying out cleaning and disinfection from contact with the chemicals used for this purpose.

Such PPE includes chemical protection garments which must provide a barrier to infective agents and to chemical splashes under pressure.

DuPont Protection Solutions can supply three product families, Tychem® 2000 C, Tychem®6000 F and Tyvek® 600 Plus, which are particularly suitable for such applications. They meet the requirements for the highest performance class of EN 14126 (Protective clothing. Performance requirements and test methods for protective clothing against infective agents).
They also provide protection against chemicals which are frequently used for disinfection.