U.S. Has ‘Promising’ Vaccine for Deadly African Swine Fever

(Bloomberg) -- The U.S. Department of Agriculture has potentially found a vaccine to combat African Swine Fever, a disease that devastated hog herds in China and was recently detected in the Dominican Republic and Haiti, the agency said Thursday.

The vaccine, which officials described as “promising,” provided immunity to one-third of swine within two weeks and full protection in all animals within four weeks, according to a study.

It “could play an important role in controlling the ongoing outbreak threatening the global pork supply,” said Douglas Gladue, a USDA researcher who co-authored the study.

U.S. researchers will continue to determine the safety and efficacy of the vaccine under commercial production conditions and are working with a commercial partner, Navetco National Veterinary Joint Stock Company, located in Vietnam.

African Swine Fever was first detected in 2007 in the Republic of Georgia and has caused widespread losses of hogs in Eastern and Central Europe and Asia, at times driving up pork prices worldwide. The outbreaks in the Dominican Republican and Haiti were the first detected in the Americas in recent years. The virus is not known to infect humans.

 

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