Swine Fever News and Research

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Classical swine fever (CSF), also known as hog cholera, is a highly contagious viral disease of swine. CSF was eradicated from the United States in 1978 after a 16-year effort by the industry and State and Federal governments. Today, only 16 other countries are free of CSF. In the spring and summer of 1997, outbreaks of CSF were confirmed in Haiti and the Dominican Republic; both countries had eradicated the disease in the early 1980's. Also in 1997, several European countries, including the Netherlands and Belgium, experienced outbreaks and suffered heavy losses. These outbreaks have animal health officials at the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) con- cerned that CSF could spread to U.S. swine herds. While CSF does not cause foodborne illness in peo- ple, economic losses to pork producers would be severe if the disease were to become established again in this country.

SOUND-control: A COST Action advancing cattle disease control in Europe

Europe has faced its fair share of animal health crises, like the outbreaks of Foot and Mouth Disease, Avian influenza in the Netherlands (2003), and African swine fever. But what about the diseases present in many countries that don't grab the headlines?

12 Jul 2023

Experts identify a novel fucosylated heparan sulfate from the midgut gland of the Japanese scallop

Glycosaminoglycans (GAGs), including chondroitin sulfate (CS), heparan sulfate (HS), heparin, and hyaluronan are linear and acidic polysaccharides found in the extracellular matrix of all animal tissues. GAGs are widely used as functional ingredients in health products, pharmaceuticals, and cosmetics, and are prepared from biological samples such as shark cartilage and porcine intestinal mucosa. Consequently, the demand for new sources of GAGs is ever-present. For example, the supply source of the anticoagulant heparin-;generally prepared from porcine intestinal mucosa in China-;was threatened by African swine fever in 2018.

15 Jun 2023

Could mRNA vaccines triumph over other viral infections in humans and domestic animals?

Researchers review potential areas for mRNA vaccine development against pathogenic viruses other than SARS-CoV-2.

28 Nov 2022

On-site ultrasensitive monkeypox viral testing using CRISPR/Cas12a

In a new study posted to the medRxiv* preprint server, researchers in China developed an MPXV assay combining clustered regularly interspaced short palindromic repeats and CRISPR-associated protein (CRISPR/Cas) and recombinase-aided amplification (RAA) for the first time.

18 Oct 2022

Novel P22-mAb based bELISA assay can help detect antibodies against African swine fever virus

African swine fever (ASF) is a highly infectious and fatal disease of pigs. Due to the complexity of the ASF virus (ASFV) and various clinical forms of the disease, a wide range of highly effective and robust sero-diagnostic assays are required.

2 Sep 2022

Würzburg scientists are working on the development of new drugs to combat monkeypox

Poxviruses pose a threat to humanity that should be taken seriously, as the current outbreak of monkeypox shows.

1 Aug 2022

Development of a rapid, inexpensive and highly accurate diagnostic method to fight African Swine Fever

While the attention of public health authorities has been rivetted on the current COVID-19 pandemic, caused by the novel coronavirus SARS-CoV-2, many other viruses have been stealthily circling the globe, causing serious disease and death in humans and other animals.

25 May 2022

UK's fight against zoonotic diseases receives a £200 million boost

The UK's fight against zoonotic diseases, including avian flu and bovine tuberculosis received a major boost today (16 February) with the allocation of £200 million for a programme of investment into world leading research facilities.

15 Feb 2022

Recognizing viral genomes in quick, ‘CRISP’ ways

Researchers from China recently reviewed the latest advancements, applications, and prospects of virus detection using CRISPR-Cas systems.

27 Aug 2021

Could labs that test livestock ease covid testing backlog for people? Well … maybe.

In a heated exchange late last month on CNN's State of the Union, host Jake Tapper pressed Adm. Brett Giroir, the Health and Human Services assistant secretary who oversees COVID testing efforts for the Trump administration, on why the government isn't requiring commercial labs to increase testing capacity in order to speed turnaround time.

5 Aug 2020

Study confirms that SARS-CoV-2 cannot be transmitted to people by mosquitoes

A new study by Kansas State University researchers is the first to confirm that SARS-CoV-2 cannot be transmitted to people by mosquitoes.

17 Jul 2020

Low-cost PCR test designed to detect coronavirus

The project of Consuelo Rubio has been among those chosen for the call of the Valencian System of Innovation and Research for the COVID-19 emergency.

14 May 2020

New vaccine against African swine fever appears to be more effective than previous vaccines

Government and academic investigators have developed a vaccine against African swine fever that appears to be far more effective than previously developed vaccines. The research appears this week in the Journal of Virology, a publication of the American Society for Microbiology.

23 Jan 2020

New strain of coronavirus sparks concerns of a wider outbreak throughout China

Reports of a new strain of coronavirus causing pneumonia-like symptoms in the central Chinese city of Wuhan have sparked concerns of a wider outbreak throughout China and possibly in other countries.

21 Jan 2020

The Black Death still lurks all over the world

Beijing, the capital of the economic giant, China, is in the news currently for a far different reason – two patients have developed pneumonic plague. The patients, who hail from Inner Mongolia’s northwestern corner, are being treated at a high-level hospital there, amidst 21 million other people. The health authorities say they have put in place adequate protection and control measures to keep the plague from spreading.

17 Nov 2019

Analysis of long-term data of an outbreak of classical swine fever in wild boars

Swine fever, rabies, bird flu - outbreaks of diseases in wildlife populations often also affect farm animals and humans.

20 Aug 2019

Swine fever outbreak spreads to five prefectures across Japan

Government health officials have reported an outbreak of swine fever in Japan that has spread over five prefectures, including Osaka.

7 Feb 2019

Genetically modified pigs could limit replication of classical swine fever virus, study shows

Researchers have developed genetically modified pigs that are protected from classical swine fever virus, according to a study published December 13 in the open-access journal PLOS Pathogens by Hongsheng Ouyang of Jilin University, and colleagues.

14 Dec 2018

The impending risk of African Swine Fever Virus

A new emerging pathogen, African Swine Fever Virus (ASFV) has caused outbreaks in 15 countries, including across Europe, and a month ago it was identified in China, the world's largest producer of pork.

15 Oct 2018

New research projects aim to stop spread of African swine fever and prevent outbreak in the U.S.

African swine fever virus threatens to devastate the swine industry and is positioned to spread throughout Asia. The virus has spread throughout the Caucuses region of Eastern Europe and was reported in China in August. It recently was detected in wild boar in Belgium.

10 Oct 2018