Article 1
1. With a view to developing legislation on the control of African swine fever in pigs kept under extensive and semi-extensive husbandry systems, the Community shall undertake scientific measures to determine the importance of soft ticks (Ornithodorus erraticus) in the epidemiology of the said disease. 2. The objectives of the measures to be carried out in Portugal are: - to map distribution of ticks, - to determine the period of survival of ticks on farms which have been depopulated of pigs due to African swine fever and whether ticks can survive by feeding on other vertebrate hosts, - to determine whether sentinel pigs are a satisfactory way of monitoring virus persistence in ticks on infected premises. 3. The objectives of measures to be performed in the United Kingdom are: - to determine virus infection and excretion rates in Portuguese ticks infected with virus isolates collected in different areas of Portugal, - to determine the efficiency and duration of virus transmission to pigs by infected ticks.