Swine fever vaccine hope

Research identifies genetic key

GEELONG scientists have helped uncover genetic data that may assist in the development of a vaccine to protect pigs against African swine fever.

The disease, which has no effective treatment, is controlled in Australia by quarantine.

Its impacts include death and sickness in domestic pigs, loss of trade and the costs associated with outbreak response and eradication measures.

For the first time researchers from CSIRO’s Australian Animal Health Laboratory have compared immune system responses in pigs infected with strains of the virus that causes ASF at a genetic level.

The team, in collaboration with a laboratory and university in the US, were able to identify a set of common genetic responses they hope will lead to vaccine development and diagnostic tests.

Raymond Rowland, of Kansas State University, said attempts to develop a vaccine using conventional methods had failed.

“This work represents the benchmark study for all future work done in this area,” Dr Rowland said.

Although ASF has not yet been detected in Australia or the Asia-Pacific region, access to a vaccine may help reduce the incidence of the virus globally and improve the ability to respond to an outbreak.

David Williams, based at CSIRO’s AAHL, said the genetic investigations shed light on how the immune system genes of pigs responded to ASF virus infection.

“Our findings have extended our understanding of the virus-host relationship, an important element in developing new intervention strategies including new vaccine research to identify genes that stimulate protective immunity,” Dr Williams said.

“We will continue working with the genetic information we have identified to further our understanding of the host’s response to ASF infection and what effect this has on virus replication.”

Pat Mitchell, of Australian Pork Ltd, said a local outbreak of the disease could have severe socio-economic effects on rural farmers as herds may be lost.

“Australia’s pork industry, which contributes approximately $2.8 billion in gross domestic product and more than $1.3 billion in household income, strongly supports research to develop a vaccine for ASF,” Mr Mitchell said.

Although ASF has usually been restricted to Africa, in recent years it has emerged and spread steadily across Europe, with growing concern it will continue to China and beyond.

In Russia, overall losses due to ASF between 2007 and 2012, were estimated about $1.3 billion.