Detection of African swine fever virus in feed dust collected from experimentally inoculated complete feed using quantitative PCR and virus titration assays.

Abstract

African swine fever virus (ASFV) is a current threat to global pork production due to its high case fatality rate, lack of efficacious vaccine and recent transboundary spread into new regions of the world. Preventing introduction and further spread of ASFV is critical for countries currently negative for the virus. ASFV is stable in feed ingredients subjected to transoceanic conditions and transmission occurs through the natural consumption of contaminated feed. In this study, we investigated the use of feed dust collected from experimentally inoculated feed as a novel diagnostic sample type for ASFV detection. Moist swabs were used to collect dust from creep feeders after natural consumption of feed inoculated with 3.1-5.4 logTCID/g ASFV Georgia 2007 in the presence and absence of antimicrobial feed additives. Results validate the potential use of feed dust swabs as a novel diagnostic surveillance tool for detection and quantification of viral nucleic acid and infectious virus titre in ASFV-contaminated feed.