African Swine Fever: The State of the Art in Italy

Abstract

African swine fever (ASF) is a severe viral disease of domestic pigs and Eurasian wild boars (Sus scrofa) caused by the African swine fever virus (ASFV). ASF is endemic in sub-Saharan Africa, where 24 genotypes of the virus have been reported. Between the late 1950s and the early 1980s, genotype I ASFV emerged in Europe, including Italy. In June 2007, a second ASF epidemic wave caused by genotype II was registered, involving several European and extra-European countries, including Italy in 2022. The present paper aims to provide the state of the art of ASF in Italy, describing the course of ASF in wild boars and domestic pigs as an example of multiple concurring different scenarios. Sardinia is coping with the last phase of the eradication of the disease by applying the exit strategy. Conversely, four clusters of infection located in North, Central, and South Italy are still ongoing. The unique and complex Italian experience in ASF-controlling may be useful to increase know-how on the efficacy of strategies and measures, as well as issues that could be further improved.

Passive Surveillance as a Key Tool for African Swine Fever Eradication in Wild Boar: A Protocol to Find Carcasses Tested and Validated in the Mediterranean Island of Sardinia

“…The active search for wild boar carcasses (carcass types A or C) requires the involvement of several people and huge economic resources [ 42 , 43 , 44 ]. The results of this study confirmed the key role of actively searching for and removing carcasses and eradicating ASF in combination with hunting activities [ 45 ] and the importance of implementing, even over the long term, user-friendly apps for efficient data collection.…”

“…Hunters, a special and often overlooked group of citizen scientists [ 39 ], offer unique advantages given their knowledge of the territory, facilitating the collection of long-term data over large areas that otherwise could not be possible to investigate [ 40 ]. Thus, researchers and hunters should be considered a standard partnership [ 44 ]. Hunters play an important role in wildlife management and, thus, also in the implementation of disease control measures in the wild boar population, especially in the enforcement of ASF control measures and passive disease surveillance [ 41 ].…”

“…Although the island has been affected by ASF for 43 years, infection in the wild boar population has always been limited to an area located in the northeast [ 40 , 44 ]. The first wild boar infection area, defined in 2012, was composed of eight different macro-infected areas (the blue areas in Figure 1 a), spanning an area with a total size of 2521 km 2 .…”

Nanoparticle-Based Secretory Granules Induce a Specific and Long-Lasting Immune Response through Prolonged Antigen Release

“…This structurally complex virus [ 25 ] causes severe hemorrhagic disease in domestic pigs [ 27 , 28 ]. Being a significant global veterinary concern [ 26 , 29 , 30 , 31 , 32 ], primarily due to the lack of effective vaccine and vaccine prototypes [ 33 ], it is particularly worrying in large countries such as China in which the pig industry is a strong economic supporter [ 34 , 35 ]. Secondly, a mouse model was employed to assess the safety and immunogenicity of secretory granules based on the green fluorescent protein (GFP).…”

The Long-Jumping of African Swine Fever: First Genotype II Notified in Sardinia, Italy

“…Up to October 2023, genotype II was responsible for 1063 cases in wild boar and 16 outbreaks in domestic pigs (ADNS, as of 2 October 2023). The Italian epidemic spread is currently characterized by long-distance jump transmission from infected regions (i.e., Liguria and Piedmont) to previously ASF-free areas, such as Lazio, Lombardia, Campania, Calabria, and Sardinia [ 28 , 29 , 30 ]. Transmission via the human factor was confirmed in mainland Italy [ 29 ].…”