Abstract
In 2007, African swine fever virus (ASFV) was introduced into the Transcaucasian countries and Russia. Since then, it has spread alarmingly and reached the European Union. ASFV strains are highly virulent and lead to almost 100 % mortality under experimental conditions. However, the possibility of dose-dependent disease courses has been discussed. For this reason, a study was undertaken to assess the risk of chronic disease and the establishment of carriers upon low-dose oronasal infection of domestic pigs and European wild boar. It was demonstrated that very low doses of ASFV are sufficient to infect especially weak or runted animals by the oronasal route. Some of these animals did not show clinical signs indicative of ASF, and they developed almost no fever. However, no changes were observed in individual animal regarding the onset, course and outcome of infection as assessed by diagnostic tests. After amplification of ASFV by these animals, pen- and stablemates became infected and developed acute lethal disease with similar characteristics in all animals. Thus, we found no indication of prolonged or chronic individual courses upon low-dose infection in either species. The scattered onset of clinical signs and pathogen detection within and among groups confirms moderate contagiosity that is strongly linked with blood contact. In conclusion, the prolonged course at the “herd level” together with the exceptionally low dose that proved to be sufficient to infect a runted wild boar could be important for disease dynamics in wild-boar populations and in backyard settings.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Sánchez-Vizcaíno JM, Martínez-López B, Martínez-Avilés M, Martins C, Boinas F, Vial L, Michaud V, Jori F, Etter E, Albina E, Roger F (2009) Scientific review on African swine fever. EFSA Scientific Report, pp 1–141
Blome S, Gabriel C, Dietze K, Breithaupt A, Beer M (2012) High virulence of African swine fever virus caucasus isolate in European wild boars of all ages. Emerg Infect Dis 18:708
Blome S, Gabriel C, Beer M (2013) Pathogenesis of African swine fever in domestic pigs and European wild boar. Virus Res 173:122–130
Carrascosa AL, Bustos MJ, de Leon P (2011) Methods for growing and titrating African swine fever virus: field and laboratory samples. In: Bonifacino JS et al (eds) Current protocols in cell biology, chapter 26, unit 26, p 14
Costard S, Jones BA, Martinez-Lopez B, Mur L, de la Torre A, Martinez M, Sanchez-Vizcaino F, Sanchez-Vizcaino JM, Pfeiffer DU, Wieland B (2013) Introduction of African swine fever into the European Union through illegal importation of pork and pork products. PLoS ONE 8:e61104
Costard S, Mur L, Lubroth J, Sanchez-Vizcaino JM, Pfeiffer DU (2013) Epidemiology of African swine fever virus. Virus Res 173:191–197
Eble P, de Koeijer A, Bouma A, Stegeman A, Dekker A (2006) Quantification of within- and between-pen transmission of Foot-and-Mouth disease virus in pigs. Vet Res 37:647–654
Gabriel C, Blome S, Malogolovkin A, Parilov S, Kolbasov D, Teifke JP, Beer M (2011) Characterization of african Swine Fever virus caucasus isolate in European wild boars. Emerg Infect Dis 17:2342–2345
Giammarioli M, Gallardo C, Oggiano A, Iscaro C, Nieto R, Pellegrini C, Dei Giudici S, Arias M, De Mia GM (2011) Genetic characterisation of African swine fever viruses from recent and historical outbreaks in Sardinia (1978–2009). Virus Genes 42:377–387
Gogin A, Gerasimov V, Malogolovkin A, Kolbasov D (2013) African swine fever in the North Caucasus region and the Russian Federation in years 2007–2012. Virus Res 173:198–203
Greig A, Plowright W (1970) The excretion of two virulent strains of African swine fever virus by domestic pigs. J Hyg 68:673–682
Gulenkin VM, Korennoy FI, Karaulov AK, Dudnikov SA (2011) Cartographical analysis of African swine fever outbreaks in the territory of the Russian Federation and computer modeling of the basic reproduction ratio. Prev Vet Med 102:167–174
Howey EB, O’Donnell V, Ferreira HCdC, Borca MV, Arzt J (2013) Pathogenesis of highly virulent African swine fever virus in domestic pigs exposed via intraoropharyngeal, intranasopharyngeal, and intramuscular inoculation, and by direct contact with infected pigs. Virus Res 178:328–329
Khomenko S, Beltrán-Alcrudo D, Rozstalnyy A, Gogin A, Kolbasov D, Pinto J, Lubroth J, Martin V (2013) African swine fever in the Russian Federation: risk factors for Europe and beyond. EMPRES Watch
King DP, Reid SM, Hutchings GH, Grierson SS, Wilkinson PJ, Dixon LK, Bastos AD, Drew TW (2003) Development of a TaqMan PCR assay with internal amplification control for the detection of African swine fever virus. J Virol Methods 107:53–61
Kleiboeker SB (2002) Swine fever: classical swine fever and African swine fever. Vet Clin North Am Food Anim Pract 18:431–451
Klinkenberg D, de Bree J, Laevens H, de Jong MC (2002) Within- and between-pen transmission of Classical Swine Fever Virus: a new method to estimate the basic reproduction ratio from transmission experiments. Epidemiol Infect 128:293–299
Laddomada A, Patta C, Oggiano A, Caccia A, Ruiu A, Cossu P, Firinu A (1994) Epidemiology of classical swine fever in Sardinia: a serological survey of wild boar and comparison with African swine fever. Vet Rec 134:183–187
Malogolovkin A, Yelsukova A, Gallardo C, Tsybanov S, Kolbasov D (2012) Molecular characterization of African swine fever virus isolates originating from outbreaks in the Russian Federation between 2007 and 2011. Vet Microbiol 158:415–419
McVicar JW, Mebus CA, Becker HN, Belden RC, Gibbs EP (1981) Induced African swine fever in feral pigs. J Am Vet Med Assoc 179:441–446
Mebus CA (1988) African swine fever. Adv Virus Res 35:251–269
Mur L, Martinez-Lopez B, Sanchez-Vizcaino JM (2012) Risk of African swine fever introduction into the European Union through transport-associated routes: returning trucks and waste from international ships and planes. BMC Vet Res 8:149
Penrith ML, Vosloo W (2009) Review of African swine fever: transmission, spread and control. J S Afr Vet Assoc 80:58–62
Perez J, Fernandez AI, Sierra MA, Herraez P, Fernandez A, Martin de las Mulas J (1998) Serological and immunohistochemical study of African swine fever in wild boar in Spain. Vet Rec 143:136–139
Rahimi P, Sohrabi A, Ashrafihelan J, Edalat R, Alamdari M, Masoudi M, Mostofi S, Azadmanesh K (2010) Emergence of African swine fever virus, northwestern Iran. Emerg Infect Dis 16:1946–1948
Rodriguez F, Fernandez A, Martin de las Mulas JP, Sierra MA, Jover A (1996) African swine fever: morphopathology of a viral haemorrhagic disease. Vet Rec 139:249–254
Rowlands RJ, Michaud V, Heath L, Hutchings G, Oura C, Vosloo W, Dwarka R, Onashvili T, Albina E, Dixon LK (2008) African swine fever virus isolate, Georgia, 2007. Emerg Infect Dis, CDC, pp 1870–1874
Ruiz-Fons F, Segales J, Gortazar C (2008) A review of viral diseases of the European wild boar: effects of population dynamics and reservoir role. Vet J 176:158–169
Sanchez-Vizcaino JM (2006) African swine fever. Diseases of Swine. Blackwell Publishing, pp 291–298
Takamatsu HD, Dixon LK, Alonso C, Escribano JM, Martins C, Revilla Y, Salas ML (2011) Asfarviridae. Virus taxonomy, pp 153–162
Vynnycky E, White R (2010) An introduction to infectious disease modelling, 1st edn. Oxford University Press, New York
Acknowledgments
We would like to thank all animal caretakers and technicians involved in this study for their excellent work. We are also very grateful to William Gilbert for improving the readability of this paper. This work was carried out as part of the European Union–funded project ASFORCE (Seventh Framework Programme, FP7/2007-2013, under Grant Agreement no. 311931).
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Electronic supplementary material
Below is the link to the electronic supplementary material.
Supplementary Table 1
Rectal body temperatures of wild boar and domestic pigs after infection. Elevated body temperature (≥ 40.0 °C < 41.0 °C) is shaded in grey, whereas body temperature ≥ 41.0 °C is highlighted in orange. WB, wild boar; DP, domestic pig; dpi, days postinfection. “✞“ indicates that the animal was already dead at this time point. *, no data (PPT 128 kb)
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Pietschmann, J., Guinat, C., Beer, M. et al. Course and transmission characteristics of oral low-dose infection of domestic pigs and European wild boar with a Caucasian African swine fever virus isolate. Arch Virol 160, 1657–1667 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00705-015-2430-2
Received:
Accepted:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00705-015-2430-2