Source: USDA, 9/30/21 The U.S. Department of Agriculture's (USDA) Agricultural Research Service (ARS) today announced that one of its African
Swine Fever Virus (ASFV) vaccine candidates has been shown to prevent and
effectively protect both European and Asian bred swine against the current
circulating Asian strain of the virus.The majority of swine used in the global food supply are
produced in Asia, where the virus has been causing outbreaks and devastating
losses to the swine industry. African Swine Fever (ASF) was originally detected
in 2007 in the Republic of Georgia and is known to cause virulent, deadly
disease outbreaks in wild and domesticated swine. Since the original outbreak,
ASF has had a widespread and lethal impact on swine herds in various countries
in Eastern Europe and throughout Asia. Although the virus is causing profound
economic losses to the swine industry, there have not been any outbreaks in the United States. The virus is
unable to transmit from pigs to humans. Newly published USDA research, as highlighted in the journal Transboundary and Emerging Diseases, shows that ARS scientists have developed a
vaccine candidate with the ability to be commercially produced while still
maintaining its vaccine efficacy against Asian ASFV strains when tested in both
European and Asian breeds of swine. The findings also show that a
commercial partner can replicate experimental level results and prevent the
spread of the virus. Previous studies were done under laboratory conditions only in
European bred pigs using an ASFV isolate, or sample, from the initial outbreak. "We are excited that our team's research has resulted in
promising vaccine results that are able to be repeated on a commercial level,
in different pig breeds, and by using a recent ASFV isolate," said ARS
researcher Douglas Gladue.
"This signals that the live attenuated vaccine candidate could play an
important role in controlling the ongoing outbreak threatening the global pork
supply," said ARS researcher Douglas Gladue. The onset of immunity was revealed in approximately one-third of
the swine by second week post-vaccination, with full protection in all swine
achieved by the fourth week. A commercial vaccine for ASFV will be an important part of
controlling ASFV in outbreak areas. Researchers will continue to determine the
safety and efficacy of the vaccine under commercial production conditions and
are closely working with their commercial partner in Vietnam. "This is a major step for science and agriculture,"
said ARS researcher Manuel Borca.
"We are working carefully to see our vaccine candidate commercialized
through the joint efforts of the U.S. government, and our commercial partner,
the Navetco National Veterinary Joint Stock Company." To date, ARS has successfully engineered and patented five ASF
experimental vaccines and has fully executed seven licenses with pharmaceutical
companies to develop the vaccines. ARS continues to evaluate additional
commercial partners to develop these vaccines. The Agricultural Research Service is the U.S.
Department of Agriculture's chief scientific in-house research agency. Daily,
ARS focuses on solutions to agricultural problems affecting America. Each
dollar invested in agricultural research results in $17 of economic impact.
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