US develops new ASF vaccine

In a few years, African swine fever (ASF) will no longer pose a threat to pig production around the world. A new vaccine with promising results is currently being tested at the Plum Island Animal Disease Center in the US .

USDA experts reported that domestic pigs infected with the ASFv-G-ΔA137R virus remained healthy 28 days after vaccination with the experimental immunizer.

The US Agricultural Research Service (ARS) has been able to develop a new vaccine for immunizing swine against African swine fever (PSA), which was achieved by eliminating the A137R gene.

According to a report in the Journal of Virology published by the American Society for Microbiology, the removal of this component of the pathogen has significantly reduced virulence in pets.

Scientists at the Plum Island Animal Disease Center explained that pigs vaccinated with this immunizer developed a remarkable specific antibody response when challenged with the PSA strain. For the study, experimental pigs, which were administered intramuscularly with the experimental immunizer, were observed for 28 days, during which they all remained healthy.

The scientists explained that so far in their studies, the ASFv-G-ΔA137R vaccine has shown no negative interaction with the virus, which distinguishes it from other vaccines that need to be tested before commercialization.