Emergence of African swine fever in the North Eastern Region of India

Abstract

African swine fever (ASF) is a highly contagious haemorrhagic viral disease of domestic and wild pigs. It is responsible for serious economic and production losses due to heavy mortality. The continuing spread of ASF from Africa to Europe and recently to China and other Southeast Asian countries threatens global pork production and food security. It is caused by a large DNA virus of the Asfarviridae family. The virus also infects ticks of the genus Ornithodoros, which may transmit the disease to susceptible pigs. The disease is currently confined to Africa, Europe and Asia. ASF is first recorded in domestic pigs in the State of Assam and Arunachal Pradesh of NE India in May, 2020. Route of transmission may be direct contact with infected domestic or wild pigs; indirect contact and through ingestion of contaminated feed or garbage. The clinical signs of ASF are similar to classical swine fever (CSF) but the ASF virus is unrelated to the CSF virus (an RNA virus). Acute form of ASF is characterized by high fever and haemorrhages in the skin apart from other common sings and mortality may reach upto 100%. Currently, there is no approved vaccine for ASF, although some encouraging progresses have been made in this direction. Besides, proper hygiene and strict biosecurity measures, the disease have been controlled by mass slaughter of affected pigs and proper disposal of carcasses.