Conclusions
This study allowed us to identify that practices and conditions
facilitating interactions between wild boar and domestic pigs and the
transmission of shared swine pathogens were abundant and widespread in
the Ardèche Department. Despite our sample limited, many of those
factors were more important in the OD emergence area that outside. Those
included ecological aspects (areas of forest and higher estimated wild
density), but also anthropic factors related to pig farming such a
significantly higher presence of farms with leaky biosecurity measures
which were confirmed by the presence of a higher number of reported
incursions and episodes of interaction. On the other hand, the results
of the questionnaire suggest that risky agricultural practices such as
slurry spreading and dumping of offal waste from hunting or pig
slaughtering do occur and can facilitate indirect spill over of
pathogens to the natural environment and subsequent transmission to wild
boar populations. Moreover, our study highlights the potential
importance of abandoned pot-bellied pig pets which can allow the
development of free ranging feral pig populations and the development of
a new and unsuspected wild-domestic suid interface, which deserves
higher attention and further investigation about its potential
epidemiological impact. Similar studies in this and other rural regions
in the EU are recommended, in order to identify risk areas and
anticipate preparedness for the emergence and circulation of shared
swine pathogens.