<abstract xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml"><p>African swine fever (ASF) is a serious disease of domestic and feral swine mainly because of grave clinical course of the disease and its strong socio-economic impact. Not only there is an extremely high mortality (95–100%) around the time of the first outbreak, live-animal, pork meat and other pork product trade is strongly affected on regional and international level. ASF is a species-specific disease; strength of the clinical signs depends on virulence of a viral strain. Exacerbation of body temperature and dysfunction of respiratory system and gastrointestinal tract are most common occurrences. Lesions can be mostly classed as congestive or hemorrhagic. Epidemiologically, ASF varies substantially among regions, countries and continents due to wide panel of different virus genotypes, population of feral swine and other reservoirs of disease, geographical characteristics and social habits of people. ASF is endemic in Sub-Saharan Africa where soft ticks (Argaside) and chronically infected feral swine population serve as reservoirs. It also became endemic in most parts of Russian Federation. Since 1978, ASF is endemic on Sardinia isle, as it was eradicated in all other parts of Europe. First outbreak in Georgia in 2007 has apparently served for transmission to other eastern European countries. Slovenia is currently still ASF-free but disease has already reached some relatively nearby countries (Poland, Romania, Moldova, Czech Republic and Hungary). There is no anti-ASF vaccine currently available ad specific treatment has not been described. Therefore rapid diagnostics and implementation of strict biosecurity measures play a key role in prevention of further transmission.</p></abstract>

African swine fever (ASF) is a serious disease of domestic and feral swine mainly because of grave clinical course of the disease and its strong socio-economic impact. Not only there is an extremely high mortality (95–100%) around the time of the first outbreak, live-animal, pork meat and other pork product trade is strongly affected on regional and international level. ASF is a species-specific disease; strength of the clinical signs depends on virulence of a viral strain. Exacerbation of body temperature and dysfunction of respiratory system and gastrointestinal tract are most common occurrences. Lesions can be mostly classed as congestive or hemorrhagic. Epidemiologically, ASF varies substantially among regions, countries and continents due to wide panel of different virus genotypes, population of feral swine and other reservoirs of disease, geographical characteristics and social habits of people. ASF is endemic in Sub-Saharan Africa where soft ticks (Argaside) and chronically infected feral swine population serve as reservoirs. It also became endemic in most parts of Russian Federation. Since 1978, ASF is endemic on Sardinia isle, as it was eradicated in all other parts of Europe. First outbreak in Georgia in 2007 has apparently served for transmission to other eastern European countries. Slovenia is currently still ASF-free but disease has already reached some relatively nearby countries (Poland, Romania, Moldova, Czech Republic and Hungary). There is no anti-ASF vaccine currently available ad specific treatment has not been described. Therefore rapid diagnostics and implementation of strict biosecurity measures play a key role in prevention of further transmission.

A Review of African Swine Fever – Disease that is Now a Big Concern in Europe

Veterinary faculty, Clinic for Reproduction and Farm Animals, Clinic for Ruminants and Pigs

Contemporary Agriculture

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 3.0 License.

African swine fever (ASF) is a serious disease of domestic and feral swine mainly because of grave clinical course of the disease and its strong socio-economic...

A Review of African Swine Fever – Disease that is Now a Big Concern in Europe

Published Online: Aug 06, 2018

Page range: 110 - 118

Received: Sep 14, 2017

Accepted: May 07, 2018

DOI: https://doi.org/10.2478/contagri-2018-0016

Keywords
African swine fever, epidemiology, clinical signs, transmission, prevention

© 2018 Marina Štukelj et al., published by Sciendo

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 3.0 License.

A Review of African Swine Fever – Disease that is Now a Big Concern in Europe

Published Online: Aug 06, 2018

Page range: 110 - 118

Received: Sep 14, 2017

Accepted: May 07, 2018

DOI: https://doi.org/10.2478/contagri-2018-0016

KeywordsAfrican swine fever, epidemiology, clinical signs, transmission, prevention

© 2018 Marina Štukelj et al., published by Sciendo

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 3.0 License.

Keywords
African swine fever, epidemiology, clinical signs, transmission, prevention