A China-developed vaccine that protects pigs from African Swine Fever (ASF) will soon enter the expanded clinical and production trial stage after previous tests proved effective, moving one step closer to providing immunity for pigs against the ASF virus.
Developed by the Harbin Veterinary Research Institute (HVRI) under the Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences (CAAS), the ASF vaccine had shown positive results in previous tests on 3,000 pigs and is expected to be expanded to clinical trials, the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs (MARA) said on Tuesday.
First diagnosed in Kenya in 1921 and now spreading to many countries, ASF is a highly contagious viral disease that infects only pigs. The epidemic was prevalent in China in 2018 and 2019.
The vaccine trials covered about 3,000 pigs from Northeast China’s Heilongjiang Province, Central China’s Henan Province and Northwest China’s Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region, according to Tang Junhua, the head of CAAS.
Tang said the vaccinated pigs are in good condition and have no obvious clinical adverse reactions, and no obvious pathological changes have been seen in the immunized pigs.
