Literature Review Identifies Need for Expanded ASF Virus Detection and Isolation

The Executive Director of the Swine Health Information Center suggests there's a need to expand African Swine Fever virus detection and isolation to keep on top of the genetic diversity of the virus. On behalf of the Swine Health Information Center, the Center for Animal Health and Food Safety at the University of Minnesota has reviewed current literature related to the prevention and control of African Swine Fever.

SHIC Executive Director Dr. Paul Sundberg says the review has provided an opportunity to put some scientific foundation behind what we've intuitively been thinking about the movement of the virus.

Clip-Dr. Paul Sundberg-Swine Health Information Center:

There are changes in the genome of African Swine Fever. There are other specialised tools for analysis of ASF genomes and those have identified different functional genomes in the ASF proteins. They've identified viral genetic patterns, those types of things that help us understand the evolution of the virus as it moves from one area to another.

The viruses in different hosts, the different types of virulence signs that show up and how those are connected to the genealogy of the virus itself. A very important part for our preparation and being prepared for an ASF outbreak in North America is looking at the molecular diagnosis and surveillance gap. These I think are very similar in that there's a need to expand virus detection and isolation, genetic diversity.

We have to monitor the ASF isolates diversity in endemic areas to watch for that. We have to make sure that we have the automation and the standardization of the sequencing, all of those things that go along with diagnostics to make sure that we're doing our best in keeping up with ASF as it continues to move.