African swine fever

African swine fever

African swine fever is a highly contagious, viral disease of pigs caused by African swine fever virus (ASFV), a large complex DNA virus and the only member of family Asfarviridae, genus Asfivirus.  The virus can become endemic in feral or wild suids, and transmission cycles between these animals and Ornithodoros ticks can complicate or prevent eradication. Isolates of the virus vary in virulence. There is currently no vaccine or treatment.

ASF has spread in domestic pig populations throughout most sub-Saharan African countries. Transcontinental spread first occurred to Europe (Spain and Portugal) in 1957 and 1960, and from there to other European countries, South America and the Caribbean. With the exception of Sardinia, the disease was eradicated from outside Africa in the mid-1990s. A second transcontinental spread to Georgia in the Caucasus began in 2007, with subsequent spread to neighbouring countries and further into Eastern Europe with the wild boar (Sus scrofa) involved in the spread. Currently, ASFV is present in the Trans-Caucasus, parts of the Russian Federation and neighbouring countries, including Ukraine, Poland, Latvia, Lithuania, Estonia and Moldova, as well as, Hungary, Czech Republic and Romania. In 2018 the disease occurred in Belgium and also for the first time in China. In 2019 it has been disecovered in several countries in SE Asia, and has had a significant effect on the Chinese pork industry.

STAR-IDAZ IRC working with the Global African Swine Fever Research Alliance (GARA) aims to coordinate research, establish and sustain global research partnerships that will generate scientific knowledge and generate road maps for the prevention, control and where possible eradication of African Swine Fever. The current state of ASF research is covered in the Annual state-of-the art report on animal health research on IRC priorities.

STAR-IDAZ IRC helped organize the EU-China collaboration on pig disease research with a particular focus on African Swine Fever, Beijing, 12 March 2019.

A review into recent developments in research was commissioned by the STAR-IDAZ IRC and can was published in March 2022 and can be seen or downloaded from this site here:

2022 African Swine Fever Virus Research Review

 

Subscribe to news, events and research calls