The U.S. Department of Agriculture's Agricultural Research Service (ARS) today announced that an African Swine Fever Virus vaccine candidate has been adapted to grow in a cell line, which means that those involved in vaccine production will no longer have to rely on live pigs and their fresh cells for vaccine production.
"This opens the door for large-scale vaccine production, which is a valuable tool for the possible eradication of the virus," said senior ARS scientist Dr. Manuel Borca.
African Swine Fever is known to cause virulent, deadly outbreaks in wild and domestic swine, causing widespread and lethal outbreaks in various countries in Eastern Europe and throughout Asia.
African Swine Fever is not a threat to humans and cannot be transmitted from pigs to humans. However, outbreaks have led to significant economic losses and pork shortages on local and global scales.