The ASFV Caucasus isolate is highly virulent in European wild boars, causing 100% mortality and making a scenario of endemicity driven by chronically diseased animals unlikely.
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Extreme virulence precludes chronic carriage in wild boars; leaves open transmission dynamics for ASFV surveillance and control.
To the Editor: African swine fever (ASF) is a serious disease that is currently affecting domestic pigs and wild boars in the Russian Federation. The disease is caused by African swine fever virus (ASFV; family Asfarviridae), and its continuing spread imposes a growing risk for introduction to disease-free areas with a high density of pigs and/or wild boars. We recently reported on the experimental characterization of ASFV Caucasus isolates in European wild boar piglets and juveniles (1), age classes that were deemed to be the most susceptible to ASFV. The extreme virulence of the virus strain led to an almost peracute disease and 100% mortality. On the basis of these data, a scenario of endemicity driven by chronically diseased animals or ASFV carriers seems unlikely. Nevertheless, ASF continues to occur in wild boars.
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Blome et al. (2012) studied this question.
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