New technologies for African swine fever (Vax4ASF)

Overview

African swine fever is a highly contagious viral disease of domestic and wild pigs. The disease affects several regions across Africa, Asia and Europe.

Although it is not a danger to human health, African swine fever can cause massive losses in pig populations, with consequent effects on livelihoods of smallholder pig farmers and the pork industry at large.

According to the World Organisation for Animal Health, African swine fever has impacted 52 countries across five world regions, resulting in over 126,000 pig and 30,000 wild boar infections, with more than 1,809,000 animal deaths since January 2021.

The complex nature of the African swine fever genome and virus particles has been the main impediment to the development of a vaccine against the disease.

For this reason, despite the intensive research on different vaccine approaches, full commercial vaccine candidates are still lacking.

Controlling the replication level of the virus through a next-generation African swine fever vaccine will be crucial in managing the disease.

Vaccination will complement other prevention and control interventions such as development of specific diagnostic tests, improved biosafety on farms and disease surveillance.

Expected outcome

A definitive, effective and safe vaccine against the African swine fever virus.