African Swine Fever: Contagious Viral Disease of Pigs

African swine fever (ASF) is an infectious disease of domestic and wild pigs of all breeds and ages, caused by ASF virus (ASFV) is the only member of the Asfarviridae family, genus Asfivirus. The clinical syndromes vary from per-acute, acute, subacute to chronic, depending on the virulence of the virus. Acute disease is characterized by high fever, hemorrhages in the reticuloendothelial system, and a high mortality rate. Soft ticks of the Ornithodoros genus, especially O. moubata and O. erraticus, have been shown to be both reservoirs and transmission vectors of ASFV. The virus is present in tick salivary glands and passed to new hosts (domestic or wild suids) when feeding. It can be transmitted sexually between ticks, transovarially to the eggs, or transtadially throughout the tick’s life.