African Swine Fever Virus Transmission and Control: The Role of Wild and Domestic Suids—2nd Edition

A special issue of Animals (ISSN 2076-2615). This special issue belongs to the section "Pigs".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: 15 January 2025 | Viewed by 399

Special Issue Editors


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Guest Editor
Transboundary Animal Diseases Programme, Agricultural Research Council-Onderstepoort Veterinary Institute, Onderstepoort 0110, South Africa
Interests: nucleic acid extraction; PCR; enzymes; molecular virology; gel electrophoresis; cell culture; electrophoresis; RNA; microbiology; African swine fever; foot-and-mouth disease
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

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Guest Editor
Department of Veterinary Tropical Diseases, Faculty of Veterinary Science, University of Pretoria, Onderstepoort 0110, South Africa
Interests: veterinary virology; transboundary animal diseases; vector-borne and zoonotic diseases; wildlife infectious diseases; molecular diagnostics; molecular epidemiology; wildlife conservation; one health
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

African swine fever (ASF) is a contagious viral disease with mortality rates of almost 100% in domestic pigs and European wild boars. In contrast, wild African suids, such as warthogs and bush pigs, are generally asymptomatic. As one of the most widely consumed meats, pork is a rich source of high-quality protein and select nutrients, particularly in resource-constrained settings. Efforts to control the disease by interrupting transmission pathways rely on a comprehensive understanding of the factors driving spillover between sylvatic hosts and domestic suids, along with those limiting control once the virus has been introduced to domestic pigs. Whilst several universal factors are known to contribute to inefficient control in pigs, including late detection, limited funds for compensation and animal husbandry practices, drivers of inter-species transmission and multi-host spread are less well understood and likely to differ worldwide. This Special Issue will address knowledge gaps regarding the transmission and spread of ASF in endemic and newly affected areas by addressing a broad range of ASFV infection dynamics, including immune responses, transmission pathways and virus pathogenesis in pigs. In addition, approaches shown to mitigate risk and limit spillover and spread, inclusive of virus detection methods suited to resource-constrained settings heavily impacted by ASF, are particularly welcome.

Dr. Juanita Van Emmenes
Prof. Dr. Armanda Bastos
Guest Editors

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Keywords

  • ASF
  • ASFV
  • transmission pathways
  • risk factors
  • pathogenesis
  • host immune responses
  • molecular epidemiology
  • novel mitigation strategies

Published Papers (1 paper)

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Research

16 pages, 1827 KiB  
Article
Strategic Challenges to the Eradication of African Swine Fever Genotype II in Domestic Pigs in North Italy
by Silvia Pavone, Silvia Bellini, Carmen Iscaro, Marco Farioli, Mario Chiari, Antonio Lavazza, Luigi Ruocco, Davide Lelli, Giorgia Pintus, Paola Prati and Francesco Feliziani
Animals 2024, 14(9), 1295; https://doi.org/10.3390/ani14091295 - 25 Apr 2024
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Abstract
African swine fever (ASF) is a severe viral disease characterized by high lethality in suids and caused by the African Swine Fever Virus (ASFV). The ASF genotype I virus was introduced to Europe in 1957, marking the onset of the first European epidemic [...] Read more.
African swine fever (ASF) is a severe viral disease characterized by high lethality in suids and caused by the African Swine Fever Virus (ASFV). The ASF genotype I virus was introduced to Europe in 1957, marking the onset of the first European epidemic wave. In 2007, ASFV genotype II was detected in Georgia, affecting domestic pigs and wild boars before spreading to various European and extra-European countries, including Italy. The first case of ASFV in Italy was documented on 7 January 2022, in a wild boar in the Piedmont region. Since then, several ASFV-positive wild boar carcasses have been identified in the Piedmont and Liguria regions. By June 2023, ASFV had spread to Lombardy, one of the major pig-producing regions in northern Italy; the virus was first detected in early summer in wild boar carcasses. Two months later, it was diagnosed in a commercial pig farm as a consequence of the disease’s spread amongst wild boars and an increase in the viral environmental load. This report aims to describe the features of ASFV domestic pig outbreaks that occurred in the Zinasco municipality (Lombardy) and the joint efforts to mitigate potential direct and indirect economic impacts on the Italian and global pig industry. The epidemiological investigation and the measures implemented, which were all performed according to national and European regulations, as well as exceptional ad hoc measures aimed at protecting the pig industry, are described in order to provide a practical and effective approach to combating ASF. Full article
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