American researchers may have made great strides in vaccine development. However, virologists warn of excessive euphoria.

New US research findings suggest that an effective vaccine against African swine fever can be developed in the medium term.

Scientists from the Agricultural Research Service (ARS), which reports to the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA), have tested the field isolate of the ASF virus, which was provided to them by the Georgian Ministry of Agriculture in Tbilisi.

Researchers have identified a virus gene called “I177L,” which, once turned off, made the ASF virus completely harmless. Vaccination with an appropriate isolate leads to the so-called sterile immunity. Vaccinated animals themselves are not carriers of the virus after they have developed immunity, nor will they secrete a pathogen.

So far, the vaccine has only been tested in the laboratory, and not under practical conditions, by Dr. Douglas Glady, who coordinates the study.

Wild boars can smell food that is more than 5 km away.

However, the results with the new experimental vaccine are more promising than previous studies with other potential candidate vaccines. However, the vaccine has not yet been approved or commercially available.

There are many more open questions regarding infection routes and immunology. In addition, a lively, infectious virus is used in vaccine development. Therefore, it was necessary to very carefully check whether the pathogen used for the vaccine is genetically stable and whether it can mutate into the type of virus that causes the disease in the animal. Young, old and pregnant animals should also tolerate vaccination well.

In any case, this ASF vaccine will only be used for wild boars. Domestic pigs will not be vaccinated due to trade restrictions threatened by vaccination.

• Earlier, we reported that 9 infected boars were found in Poland near the border with Germany.
• Japan is preparing a series of measures that will increase biosecurity at pig farms in the event of an outbreak of ASF.
• Despite laboratory tests showing that there is no African swine fever in Southeast Asia, more than 4,000 pigs have died.
• We also wrote that in Russia there was a discussion of the epizootic situation in ASF and the causes of its outbreaks in the country.
• As African swine fever spreads across many Asian and European countries, pig owners in New Zealand are vigilant.