Histopathological and serum biochemical changes following detection of African swine fever virus genome from a suspected outbreak of African swine fever in Kaduna State

Abstract

Spleen and lymph nodes obtained from pigs during a suspected outbreak of African swine fever (ASF) in Kaduna state were tested for African swine fever virus (ASFV) genome by the Polymerase chain reaction (PCR). Deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) extracted from these tissues were further amplified and tested for ASFV DNA genome by the PCR using specific primers of 278 base pair (bp) from a highly conserved region of the ASF DNA genome and visualized following gel electrophoresis of PCR products using 1.5% agarose gel in 1 X tris-acetate buffer (TAE buffer). Bands were produced in all the extracted DNA tissues (comprising four spleen and four lymph nodes) which corresponded to the 278 bp of the specific amplicon size. PCR is widely used in veterinary research, and has also found wide application in routine analysis of veterinary clinical samples. Keywords: ASF, ASFV, DNA, PCR, oligonucleotide primers, bp, TAE buffer, genome Tropical Veterinarian Vol. 22(2) 2004: 57-60