Abstract
Simple SummaryAfrican swine fever is the most significant disease threat to swine globally, and recent introductions into previously negative countries has heightened the risk for disease spread. Without an effective vaccine or treatment, the primary objective of negative countries is to prevent African swine fever virus infection in pigs. Significant quantities of feed ingredients used for swine diets are traded worldwide and may be imported from countries with African swine fever. If feed ingredients are contaminated with the virus, they can serve as potential routes for the introduction and transmission of African swine fever virus. This review provides information on the risk of African swine fever virus in feed and the mitigation strategies that may help protect the global swine population from introduction and spread through feed.Since the 2013 introduction of porcine epidemic diarrhea virus into the United States (U.S.), feed and feed ingredients have been recognized as potential routes for the introduction and transmission of foreign animal diseases of swine. Feed ingredients for swine diets are commodities traded worldwide, and the U.S. imports thousands of metric tons of feed ingredients each year from countries with circulating foreign animal diseases. African swine fever (ASF) is the most significant foreign animal disease threat to U.S. swine production, and the recent introduction of ASF into historically negative countries has heightened the risk for further spread. Laboratory investigations have characterized the stability of the ASF virus (ASFV) in feed ingredients subjected to transoceanic shipment conditions, ASFV transmissibility through the natural consumption of plant-based feed, and the mitigation potential of certain feed additives to inactivate ASFV in feed. This review describes the current knowledge of feed as a risk for swine viruses and the opportunities for mitigating the risk to protect U.S. pork production and the global swine population from ASF and other foreign animal diseases.
Highlights
Swine enteric coronaviruses, including porcine epidemic diarrhea virus (PEDV) and porcine deltacoronavirus (PDCoV), are considered the last major transboundary swine diseases introduced into the U.S pig herd in 2013 and 2014, respectively [31,32]
PEDV rapidly expanded into U.S feral swine populations, with antibody-positive serum samples being detected in wild pigs less than 1 year after virus introduction into domestic swine [36]
Experimental research has proven that ASF virus (ASFV) is broadly stable across commonly imported feed ingredients, transmission is possible through consumption of ASFV-contaminated plant-based feed, and physical and chemical treatments of feed may mitigate the risk of ASFV introduction
Summary
Swine enteric coronaviruses, including porcine epidemic diarrhea virus (PEDV) and porcine deltacoronavirus (PDCoV), are considered the last major transboundary swine diseases introduced into the U.S pig herd in 2013 and 2014, respectively [31,32]. After the introduction of PEDV into North America, several epidemiological analyses into the introduction and rapid spread across new farms revealed the potential source of the virus as contaminated feed and feed ingredients [34]. Once feed and ingredients were identified as novel routes for transboundary viral disease spread, defining feed risk for other foreign animal diseases (FAD), including ASFV, emerged as a priority for the U.S swine industry [54]. On Romanian backyard farms, one of the risk factors for ASFV incursion during May–September 2019 was feeding plant material that had originated from ASFV-positive regions to pigs [26] Another example includes Latvia, where contaminated grass and crops fed to pigs were implicated in the 2014 outbreaks of ASFV on backyard farms [18]. Dried blood products contaminated with ASFV and used as feed additives were suggested contributors to disease spread in China [56,57]
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