Molecular contamination of an animal facility during and after African swine fever virus infection
, , , , , , , and | Dec 19, 2023
Published Online: Dec 19, 2023
Page range: 503 - 508
Received: Jul 18, 2023
Accepted: Nov 14, 2023
DOI: https://doi.org/10.2478/jvetres-2023-0065
Keywords
© 2023 Marek Walczak et al., published by Sciendo
This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 3.0 License.
Introduction
The molecular contamination of an animal facility was investigated during and after an infection with highly pathogenic African swine fever virus (ASFV) among domestic pigs. The investigation evaluated the risk of indirect transmission of the disease and indicated points that may facilitate cleaning and disinfection processes.
Material and Methods
Six domestic pigs were infected oronasally with the highly pathogenic Georgia 2007 strain. Environmental samples from the floors, walls, rubber floor mats, feeders, drinkers, high-efficiency particulate-absorbing filter covers and doors were collected 7 days post infection (dpi), 7 days later and 24 h after disinfection of the facility. The samples were investigated by real-time PCR and
Results
Typical clinical outcomes for ASF (
Conclusion
The gathered data confirmed different routes of virus excretion (oral and nasal, faeces and urine, and aerosol) and showed virus locations and different initial concentrations in the animal facility. Maintaining the facility with mechanical cleaning and using personal protection (gloves) and hand disinfection may efficiently minimise the risk of further virus spread. Together with the results of previously published studies, the present investigations’ failure to isolate infectious virus may suggest that if stable environmental conditions are assured, the time needed before the introduction of new herds into previously ASF-affected farm facilities could be shortened and in this way the economic losses caused by the disease outbreak mitigated.