These outbreaks were caused by an ASFV isolate related to the genotype II ASFV circulating in southeastern Africa.
It has been shown that the outbreaks resulted from a single introduction of ASFV in Europe in 2007 and that no molecular changes have occurred up to the present (URL (European Union Reference Laboratory for ASF) CISA-INIA Centro de investigación en Sanidad Animal 2010).
Suids, both wild and domestic, are the natural hosts of ASFV.