Current efforts towards safe and effective live attenuated vaccines against African swine fever: challenges and prospects.

Abstract

BACKGROUND:

African swine fever (ASF) is a fatal hemorrhagic disease in domestic pigs and wild boar caused by African swine fever virus (ASFV). Since ASF has been introduced into Europe and Asia, the major pig-raising areas, posing a huge threat to the pork industry worldwide. Currently, prevention and control of ASF are basically dependent on strict biosecurity measures and stamping-out policy once ASF occurs.

MAIN TEXT:

The major risks of ASF spread are insufficient biosecurity measures and human behaviors. Therefore, a safe and effective vaccine seems to be a reasonable demand for the prevention and control of ASF. Due to the efficacy advantage over other types of vaccines, live attenuated vaccines (LAVs), especially virulence-associated genes deleted vaccines, are likely to be put into emergency and conditional use in restricted areas if ASF is out of control in a country with a huge pig population and pork consumption, like China. However, the safety, efficacy, and genetic stability of current candidate ASF LAVs require comprehensive clinical evaluations prior to country-wide field application. Several critical issues need to be addressed to commercialize an ideal ASF LAV, including a stable cell line for manufacturing vaccines, differentiation of infected from vaccinated animals (DIVA), and cross-protection from different genotypes.

CONCLUSION:

A safe and effective DIVA vaccine and an accompanying diagnostic assay will facilitate the prevention, control, and eradication of ASF, which is quite challenging in the near future.

• Authors: Tao Wang, Rui Luo, Yuan Sun, Hua-Ji Qiu
• Journal: Infectious diseases of poverty (Infect Dis Poverty) Vol. 10 Issue 1 Pg. 137 (Dec 24 2021) ISSN: 2049-9957 [Electronic] England
• PMID: 34949228 (Publication Type: Editorial)
• Copyright: © 2021. The Author(s).

Chemical References

• Vaccines, Attenuated
• Viral Vaccines

Topics

• African Swine Fever (prevention & control)
• African Swine Fever Virus (genetics)
• Animals
• Biosecurity
• Sus scrofa
• Swine
• Vaccines, Attenuated
• Viral Vaccines