African Swine Fever: Causes, Symptoms, Transmission, and Prevention

What Is African Swine Fever and Where Does It Come From?

African swine fever is an endemic viral disease that originated in sub-Saharan Africa and spread to Europe. The virus that causes it is not related to any other virus and is also quite complex. This characteristic allows it to mutate and spread in both vertebrate and arthropod animals, but it is difficult to control as there is no specific vaccine or treatment. The virus is transmitted between all pigs of all ages and sexes and cannot be detected by any specific symptom except for the presence of high mortality in the herd. This, of course, depends on the strain of the virus, as some strains cause hyperacute or acute plague, which causes death, while others cause chronic or hypoxic plague, which may or may not cause death but may or may not remain in the remaining symptoms.

How Is African Swine Fever Transmitted? Key Sources of the Virus and How It Is Transmitted

The virus can survive in the face of an infected animal, in raw pork products, as well as in blood, in the tissues of infected, diseased, and diseased-surviving animals, in nasal secretions, in seminal secretions, and in saliva. Transmission can be caused by contact between an infected animal and a healthy animal since the main entry point for the virus is the upper respiratory and digestive tract, from where it enters and multiplies in the tonsils and lymph nodes of the head and neck. It can also be transmitted by ticks of the genus Ornithodoros, on which the virus is parasitic, by contaminated food or food from garbage, and by contaminated objects of human use on the farm.

African Swine Fever Symptoms: What to Look For in Infected Pigs

The symptoms of the disease include sudden death, high fever of 40 to 42 degrees Celsius, abortions, bleeding in various organs, as well as lesions of the internal organs due to internal bleeding, redness of the skin with most obvious signs in the lower chest, abdomen, tips of the ears and tail, vomiting, diarrhoea, loss of appetite, energy and weight, tachypnoea, nasal and ocular discharge.

Can African Swine Fever Affect Humans? Understanding the Risks

No, the disease is not transmitted to humans either directly, i.e., by contact with a sick animal, or indirectly by eating meat from a sick animal.

Preventing African Swine Fever: Essential Biosecurity Measures

Because there is no cure or vaccination, it is good to prevent the disease. Prevention involves cleaning the area where the animals live, with frequent disinfection, and the animals themselves, with deworming and attention to the quality and origin of their feed. About human intervention, it is good to disinfect when entering and leaving the stable, to disinfect shoes when entering and leaving the stable, to check, disinfect, and limit to the bare essentials the machinery entering the farm, and to quarantine those animals that are sick and to inform veterinarians and the competent authorities in good time. It will then be necessary to kill infected animals, burn or landfill the dead animals, clean and disinfect clothing, footwear, tools, and vehicles entering and leaving the farm, and prohibit the movement of feed, animals, and products to and from the farm.

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