African swine fever vaccines

Chapter in: Understanding and combatting African Swine Fever: A European perspective

Abstract

African swine fever virus causes an acute haemorrhagic fever in domestic pigs and wild boar which is invariably fatal. Introduction of the disease into Georgia in 2007 has led to the deaths of tens of millions of animals across Eastern Europe, Asia and Oceania with serious effects on animal welfare and global food security. Control of the disease is impaired by the lack of an effective vaccine and is dependent on strict biosecurity at the farm gate, and rapid diagnosis, quarantine and slaughter of infected herds. The few pigs that do recover from disease are robustly protected from a subsequent encounter with the same virus isolate, showing that immunity is achievable. This review provides a historical perspective on the approaches that researchers have taken to develop African swine fever vaccines, as well as discussing promising modern techniques such as targeted gene deleted viruses and viral vectored vaccines.