Maria Noriza C. Mallari
DVM 5-1
African Swine Fever: From Veterinarians to the Filipino People
The African Swine Fever Virus (ASFV/ASF) is a sole member of the family Asfarviridae.
It’s morphology is composed of a large, intracytoplasmically-replicating DNA arbovirus (Tulman,
et. al., 2009). Some references show that the first recorded outbreak for this disease was observed
in Kenya, 1921 (Mur, et. al., 2016). At present, WOAH records a total of 1,129,674 cases of ASF
of domestic pigs and 36, 927 wild boards in the regions of Africa, Americas, Asia, Oceania and
Europe (WOAH, 2022). This disease is highly contagious and is responsible for having a mortality
rate of over 100% (Costard, et. al., 2013). In terms of transmission, ASF can be transmitted through
direct contact with infected animals, indirect contact via fomites/uncooked meat, or through the
arthropod vector specifically known as Ornithodoros. This virus thrives in high temperatures, and
requires over 60°C for at least 20 min. for it to be inactivated. If transmitted via the tick vector,
additional sub biological vectors are also known to be infective. Routes such as the transstadial,
transovarial, and sexual transmission are very common as well (Brown and Bevins, 2018).
Since ASF poses a great risk to the country’s swine industry, the President of the
Philippines signed the Executive Order No. 105 in February 21, 2020, stating that there should be
a national task force preventing the entry of animal-borne diseases in order to contain transmission
and address similar issues such as the ASF virus. Following this mandated order, the country still
continues to encounter and have a hard time to fully comply with these security measures. The
reason being that over 65% of the country’s swine industry are backyard farmers. Meaning, most
of these smallholder farmers have limited access to feed supply, equipment, facilities, and
veterinary health sources (Bernardes and Peña, 2020).
ASF poses a great danger to the country. This is because the swine industry is one of the
most important animal industries in the Philippines. Taking over a production value of over Php
211.43 billion, it holds the title of 3rd place in the agriculture’s most important industry, next to
rice and fishery industries. The importance of this industry goes beyond “stable meat” supply.
Because of this industry, it is also able to provide work for allied industries, such as for meat
processing, veterinary fields, and the like (Baguio, 2022). Ever since the entry of ASF in the
country, production losses of over 9.8% have been reported. In response to this, quarantine and
strict meat inspection was created in order to prevent further transmission. A strict “non-swine”
importation was also implemented to provide solutions to this ongoing problem. (Cooper, et. al.,
2022)
As veterinarians, it is our job to ensure that this disease does not spread any further.
Mitigation is the first step to complete eradication. That is why we create researches that detect,
prevent, and treat this highly contagious virus. Presently, beyond creating researches, we can also
help prevent further spread by ensuring complete biosecurity in the swine farms. We as
veterinarians play a key role in order to provide a sustainable pork produce to not just our farmers,
but our fellow Filipino people.
References:
Baguio, S. (2022). The Importance of Artificial Insemination to the Philippine Swine Industry.
Retrieved on December 21, 2022 at
https://www.angrin.tlri.gov.tw/meeting/2017TwVn/2017TwVn_p83-88.pdf
Brown, V. R., & Bevins, S. N. (2018). A Review of African Swine Fever and the Potential for
Introduction into the United States and the Possibility of Subsequent Establishment in
Feral Swine and Native Ticks. Frontiers in veterinary science, 5, 11.
https://doi.org/10.3389/fvets.2018.00011
Cooper, T. L., Smith, D., Gonzales, M. J. C., Maghanay, M. T., Sanderson, S., Cornejo, M. R. J.
C., Pineda, L. L., Sagun, R. A. A., & Salvacion, O. P. (2022). Beyond Numbers:
Determining the Socioeconomic and Livelihood Impacts of African Swine Fever and Its
Control in the Philippines. Frontiers in veterinary science, 8, 734236.
https://doi.org/10.3389/fvets.2021.734236
Mur, L., Atzeni, M., Martínez‐López, B., Feliziani, F., Rolesu, S., & Sanchez‐Vizcaino, J. M.
(2016). Thirty‐five‐year presence of African swine fever in Sardinia: History, evolution
and risk factors for disease maintenance. Transboundary and emerging diseases, 63(2),
e165-e177.
S. Costard, L. Mur, J. Lubroth, J.M. Sanchez-Vizcaino, D.U. Pfeiffer, Epidemiology of African
swine fever virus, Virus Research, Volume 173, Issue 1, 2013, Pages 191-197, ISSN
0168-1702, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.virusres.2012.10.030.
Sánchez-Vizcaíno, J.M., Laddomada, A. and Arias, M.L. (2019). African Swine Fever Virus. In
Diseases of Swine (eds J.J. Zimmerman, L.A. Karriker, A. Ramirez, K.J. Schwartz, G.W.
Stevenson and J. Zhang). https://doi.org/10.1002/9781119350927.ch25
SciELO - Scientific Electronic Library Online.
(2018). http://www.scielo.org.pe/scielo.php?pid=S2077-99172020000400611
Tulman, E. R., Delhon, G. A., Ku, B. K., & Rock, D. L. (2009). African Swine Fever Virus.
SpringerLink. https://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1007/978-3-540-686187_2?error=cookies_not_supported&code=adad4294-4764-479c-b3c5-8b370970d7a1
WOAH, September 29, 2022. Situation Report 21. Retrieved on
https://www.woah.org/app/uploads/2022/10/asf-report21.pdf at December 12, 2022