Abstract
Understanding African swine fever virus (ASFV) transmission is essential for strategies to minimize virus spread during an outbreak. ASFV can survive for extended time periods in animal products, carcasses, and the environment. While the ASFV genome was found in environments around infected farms, data on the virus survival in soil are scarce. We investigated different soil matrices spiked with ASFV-positive blood from infected wild boar to see if ASFV can remain infectious in the soil beneath infected carcasses. As expected, ASFV genome detection was possible over the entire sampling period. Soil pH, structure, and ambient temperature played a role in the stability of infectious ASFV. Infectious ASFV was demonstrated in specimens originating from sterile sand for at least three weeks, from beach sand for up to two weeks, from yard soil for one week, and from swamp soil for three days. The virus was not recovered from two acidic forest soils. All risk mitigation experiments with citric acid or calcium hydroxide resulted in complete inactivation. In conclusion, the stability of infectious ASFV is very low in acidic forest soils but rather high in sandy soils. However, given the high variability, treatment of carcass collection points with disinfectants should be considered.
Highlights
In the last decade, African swine fever (ASF) has reached an unprecedented geographical spread affecting wild boar and domestic swine in large parts of Europe and Asia, as well as several areas in Africa [1]
Yard soil was spiked with blood from African swine fever virus (ASFV)-infected wild boar and stored for up to four weeks at 25 ◦ C or 4 ◦ C
Evidence suggests that ASF tends to behave more like a long-term habitat-bound disease with no tendency to spread rapidly
Summary
African swine fever (ASF) has reached an unprecedented geographical spread affecting wild boar and domestic swine in large parts of Europe and Asia, as well as several areas in Africa [1]. The virus is transmitted directly between infected swine and wild boar by the oronasal route, as well as indirectly by ingestion of contaminated meat, by fomites or by a contaminated environment. It can be transmitted by competent vectors, i.e., soft ticks of the genus Ornithodoros. They play an important role in Africa, but only in a few areas outside this continent [3]. Despite its limited host range and non-existent zoonotic potential, the socioeconomic impact is high, and many stakeholders are involved [4]
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