Chinese scientists have seen promising results from a new vaccine to combat African swine fever, with all pigs involved in the trial surviving the illness, according to reports.
The vaccine stimulates the animal’s immune system to defend against the virus or bacteria by allowing the body access to a harmless version to the pathogen so the system can ‘remember’ it.
In the trial, scientists form Harbin Veterinary Research Institute, under the Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, administered the vaccine to two groups of five pigs, grouped as low-dose and high-dose. The pigs were then given the virus after 28 days. Results showed all those that were vaccinated survived the disease. A small number of animals who received the low-dose vaccine exhibited mild, brief symptoms but no lesions were found.
A control group of pigs were not given the vaccine and all died within 10 to 12 days of contraction.
Weng Changjiang, co-author of the research detailing the potential vaccine, began the research in 2018. He said the vaccine did not show any adverse reactions, but there is still a long way to go before the vaccine can be commercially available.
The latest statistics from the World Organisation for Animal Health, released in September, revealed that, while African swine fever is not dangerous to humans, the current global outbreak has led to the loss of 1.5 million animals through the virus and culling since January 2021, with Europe the hardest hit region. During that time, 974,335 domestic pigs and 29,301 wild boars were confirmed to be infected with the virus.
WOAH said: “This spread confirms the global threat of the disease and highlights the importance of implementing biosecurity measures, an early reporting and response system, and maintaining a high level of disease awareness among all actors involved in the value chain.”