Carolyn Lee, a Ph.D. candidate at The Ohio State University and Real Pork Scholar, put her research interests in zoonotic and infectious diseases to use by summarizing a 2023 research article about African Swine Fever and the research advancements to develop a vaccine for this disease. Under the guidance of Dr. Pedro Urriola, University of Minnesota, and Dr. Scott Kinney, her advisor at OSU, Lee summarized the work of Dr. Hongliang Zhang and his colleagues about potential solutions to this complex virus.
The virus, which cannot transfer to humans, has never been reported in the United States, and farmers are currently taking biosecurity measures to keep it that way. In the meantime, researchers around the world are proactively seeking African Swine Fever vaccine solutions. Keep reading to learn more.
Major Finding
African Swine Fever (ASF) remains prevalent in many areas around the world and recently made its first appearance in the Dominican Republic after more than 40 years of absence. ASF can be spread easily, which makes controlling the virus complex. Effective vaccination is one of the best strategies to prevent and limit virus spread. Multiple ASF vaccine strategies have been researched with varying advantages and disadvantages. Several are outlined below:
Live attenuated vaccines (LAVs): Contain a weakened form of the virus. Experimentally tested LAVs have provided mixed success and run the risk of the virus regaining infectivity. To date, the LAV ASFV-G-∆I177L, developed in Vietnam in collaboration with U.S. researchers, is the first commercially available ASF vaccine and is currently only licensed for use in Vietnam while it continues to undergo safety testing.
Inactivated vaccines: Use the killed version of the virus, which is unable to cause disease but maintains the original virus structure. However, inactivated vaccines have historically induced poor immune protection.
Subunit vaccines: Deliver fragments of the viral genome thought to provide a protective immune response. Several fragments of the ASF virus have been investigated for protection, but the large size of the virus and functional redundance of some proteins increases the complexity of uncovering protective sections. Most investigated portions of the genome have been unable to provide complete protection against ASF virus.
Why It Matters
ASF is a highly contagious disease caused by ASF virus affecting swine. The global outbreak of ASF has led to a sharp decline in global swine production and resulted in devastating impacts to the pork economy. The race to develop an effective ASF vaccine remains, as it is potentially an efficient way to prevent the onset of virus infection and to control virus spread, therefore protecting the pork industry and international trade.
The LAV developed in Vietnam is promising, yet it is not available in the U.S. Therefore, bioexclusion of ASF from our U.S. herd is the primary, and currently only, effective defense against this virus. Strong biosecurity practices (i.e. equipment disinfection, limiting visitors, providing designated PPE) and containment practices to prevent the spread of disease within the pork industry remain the most crucial methods to resist spread of ASF until an effective vaccine is commercialized in the U.S.
How the Research Was Conducted
This information was taken from a review paper, which compiled information taken from 68 existing peer-reviewed scientific literature articles published between the years 1996 and 2023.
Learn More
To learn more about the research happening to mitigate ASF through vaccines, read the full peer-reviewed journal article.