New ASF Vaccine Candidate Offers Promise to Global Pork Industry
ASF Vaccine Scientist 100421
For the past 10 years, USDA Agricultural Research Service (ARS) scientists have been working on a vaccine for African swine fever (ASF), the deadly virus of pigs.
AgDay’s Clinton Griffiths recently visited with ARS scientists Douglas Gladue and Manuel Borca about the work they’ve been doing on a vaccine since the ASF outbreak in the country of Georgia back in 2007.
“While the virus strains have changed over time, this newest vaccine appears effective against the current outbreaks in Asia and those early European strains,” Griffiths reports.
Gladue said the most recent studies with this vaccine candidate have been done at Navetco National Veterinary Joint Stock Company where the ASF strain has evolved throughout the ASF pandemic and is a more recent strain from feed that was circulating in Vietnam.
“This shows that our vaccine candidate is effective against not only the original strain, but also the strain that has evolved and has had some small genetic changes that have occurred,” Gladue told AgDay.
Lead scientist Manuel Borca said to his knowledge, this is the first scientific report showing these results that the virus that was originally isolated in Georgia was able to fully protect animals against a virus isolate that had been obtained from the field in Vietnam almost 12 years after the initial outbreak in 2007.
The vaccine candidate works in native pigs and those used in commercial production, Griffiths reports. The scientists say this new vaccine candidate shows protection at very low doses and no symptoms at high doses. They've even been able to give it oral/nasally and it's easy to make.
It still needs some additional study and final approval, Griffiths reports.
Read more here:
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