Pork producers have welcomed what the USDA is hailing as a breakthrough in combating African swine fever (ASF) – a potential vaccine candidate that provides defense against the potentially devastating virus.

USDA’s Agricultural Research Service (ARS) has published new research that details a new vaccine candidate that has been shown to prevent and effectively protect both European and Asia bred swine against the current circulating Asian strain of the virus.

ASF – a highly contagious and deadly viral disease affecting both domestic and feral swine but is not a threat to human health and cannot be transmitted from pigs to humans – has had a significant impact in various regions. 

Keeping the disease at bay has been a critical focus for farmers and the pork industry, and there has been a multitude of safeguards put in place. 

ASF has centered on China but has spread across 14 Asian and European counties since 2007. This has led to destroying swine valued upwards of US$55 billion.

Major step for science and agriculture
The research, 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 ASF virus strains when tested in both European and Asian swine breeds.

“We are excited that our team’s research has resulted in promising vaccine candidates that are able to prevent and protect different swine breeds against the current ASF virus,” says ARS Administrator Chavonda Jacobs-Young. “Vaccine candidates could play an important role in controlling the ongoing outbreak threatening global swine health.”

Currently, ARS has engineered and patented five ASF experimental vaccines and has fully executed seven licenses with pharmaceutical companies to develop them. 

ARS is investigating commercial partners to develop these vaccines.

A commercial vaccine for ASF virus will be an essential part of controlling ASF in outbreak areas, stresses the USDA.

All US vaccine candidates have to go through the APHIS regulatory approval process for use in US swine.

ARS researchers will continue to determine the safety and efficacy of the vaccine under commercial production conditions and are closely working with their commercial partner Navetco National Veterinary Joint Stock Company, located in Vietnam.

ASF was initially detected in 2007 in the Republic of Georgia. Since the original outbreak, ASF has had a widespread and lethal impact on swine herds in various countries in Eastern and Central Europe and throughout Asia. 

Protection & safeguards 
Although the virus is causing profound economic losses to the swine industry, there have not been any US outbreaks. However, a few weeks ago, ASF outbreaks were confirmed in the Dominican Republic, the first outbreak in the Americas in recent history. 

USDA’s Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) has ramped up safeguards to prevent ASF from entering the US. 

Throughout 2019, ASF rapidly spread across East and Southeast Asia. 

The disease poses a serious threat to the livelihood and food security of large numbers of people relying on the production and processing of pigs. Pig meat accounts for almost half of the meat quantity produced in the subregion and is a key source of animal protein and income.

ASF has also had a significant impact on global markets.

“USDA agencies are working together to protect US livestock from foreign and emerging animal diseases that could harm our economy and public health,” says US Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack.  

“Scientific research, discovery, surveillance and detection are critical to solving challenging problems that American producers face to keep our food supply robust and safe,” he notes.