Role of Wild Boar in the Spread of Classical Swine Fever in Japan
New research article published in Pathogens
Abstract:
Since September 2018, nearly 900 notifications of classical swine fever (CSF) have been reported in Gifu Prefecture (Japan) affecting domestic pig and wild boar by the end of August 2019. To determine the epidemiological characteristics of its spread, a spatio-temporal analysis was performed using actual field data on the current epidemic. The spatial study, based on standard deviational ellipses of official CSF notifications, showed that the disease likely spread to the northeast part of the prefecture. A maximum significant spatial association estimated between CSF notifications was 23 km by the multi-distance spatial cluster analysis. A space-time permutation analysis identified two significant clusters with an approximate radius of 12 and 20 km and 124 and 98 days of duration, respectively. When the area of the identified clusters was overlaid on a map of habitat quality, approximately 82% and 75% of CSF notifications, respectively, were found in areas with potential contact between pigs and wild boar. The obtained results provide information on the current CSF epidemic, which is mainly driven by wild boar cases with sporadic outbreaks on domestic pig farms. These findings will help implement control measures in Gifu Prefecture.
Oral vaccination of wild boar: a new hope against African Swine Fever
Outreach article published in the magazine porciNews (porcino.info)
African Swine Fever (ASF), the greatest threat to the swine sector worldwide, has spread to more than 55 countries on three continents and is estimated to affect more than 77% of the world's swine population.
African Swine Fever is one of the viral diseases with the greatest impact on the pig sector, as viruelt strains of the virus can cause acute or even hyperacute haemorrhagic fever in animals, with mortality of up to 100%. Due to its devastating socio-economic consequences and its effects on animal health, ASF is classified as a Notifiable Disease to the OIE.
South Korean television interviews Professor Sánchez-Vizcaíno
New scientific article published in the Scientifc Reports of Nature research magazine
Title: Risk of African swine fever virus introduction into the United States through smuggling of pork in air passenger luggage
Abstract:
African swine fever causes substantial economic losses in the swine industry in affected countries. Traditionally confined to Africa with only occasional incursions into other regions, ASF began spreading into Caucasian countries and Eastern Europe in 2007, followed by Western Europe and Asia in 2018. Such a dramatic change in the global epidemiology of ASF has resulted in concerns that the disease may continue to spread into disease-free regions such as the US. In this study, we estimated the risk of introduction of ASF virus into the US through smuggling of pork in air passenger luggage. Results suggest that the mean risk of ASFV introduction into the US via this route has increased by 183.33% from the risk estimated before the disease had spread into Western Europe or Asia. Most of the risk (67.68%) was associated with flights originating from China and Hong Kong, followed by the Russian Federation (26.92%). Five US airports accounted for >90% of the risk. Results here will help to inform decisions related to the design of ASF virus surveillance strategies in the US.
Jurado C., Mur L., Perez-Aguirreburualde MS., Cadenas-Fernández E., Martínez-López B., Sánchez-Vizcaíno JM and Pérez A.
Allen D. Leman Swine Conference
On Saturday, September 14 and 16, Professor Sánchez-Vizcaíno visited the University of Minnesota to participate as a speaker at the Allen D. Leman Swine Conference with this presentations:
- "Global situation of ASF and the different epidemiological scenarios"
- "ASF Risk Analysis in Practice"
This conference is internationally acclaimed for bringing science-driven solutions to the complex challenges facing the industry. Each year hundreds of participants from over 20 countries attend the Leman Swine Conference.
Meeting between SUAT research group and IAS, CAAS to deal with ASF
On September 13, the Institute of Animal Science (IAS), Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences (CAAS), from Beijing, China visited the SUAT group led by Prof. JM Sánchez-Vizcaíno. The visit took place at VISAVET, where José Ángel Barasona and Estefanía Cadenas-Fernández (members of the group) exposed the most recent aspects of African Swine Fever.
