Abstract
African swine fever is one of the most dangerous and fatal swine diseases, described for the first time roughly a hundred years ago. Even now, there is neither a commercially approved vaccine nor treatment available. The only way to hinder further spread of the disease is by culling the affected herds and applying prevention based mainly on proper biosecurity. Due to growing awareness of the potential ASF threat among pig producers, disinfection processes are considered as one of the most important preventive measures. Currently, a variety of chemical compounds are applied for the disinfection of pig farms. Meanwhile, these chemicals may pose a potential risk, due to their toxic, irritant or corrosive effect. The aim of this study was to determine whether any plant-based natural compounds may show a virucidal effect against ASFV, and simultaneously be depleted of some of the side-effects typical for chemical compounds. Ideally, natural virucidal compounds should be safe for both humans and animals, biodegradable, easily available and inexpensive. Fourteen plant extracts were selected and screened for their virucidal effect against ASFV, using the suspension test inspired by the PN-EN 14675:2015 European Standard procedure. The results of our study showed that most of the tested plant extracts were ineffective against ASFV. Some extracts suspended in a hydroglycolic medium exhibited high virus titre reduction, but it was confirmed that the effect resulted from medium composition. However, a 1.05% peppermint extract showed high effectiveness against ASFV, reducing the virus titre by ≥4 log10, thus demonstrating that natural compounds used as virucidal agents could potentially be used in disinfection procedures, being both effective and harmless to humans and animals.
Highlights
African swine fever (ASF), is one of the most serious diseases affecting domestic and wild representatives of the Suidae family [1,2]
The disease is caused by the African swine fever virus (ASFV), a large DNA-virus that shows high genetic and antigenic diversity
The efficacy of the plant extracts was assessed by comparing the mean log reduction in the mixture of virus and tested plant extracts, with the logarithm of the virus control and the viral titer reduction value obtained by the medium
Summary
African swine fever (ASF), is one of the most serious diseases affecting domestic and wild representatives of the Suidae family (i.e., wild boar, warthogs) [1,2]. The disease is caused by the African swine fever virus (ASFV), a large DNA-virus that shows high genetic and antigenic diversity. The current epidemic began from a single introduction of the highly pathogenic ASFV genotype II to Georgia, in 2007. ASF has been spreading across Eastern and Central Europe, and in 2018 its devastating impact reached South-East Asia. As one of the leaders in pig production in Europe since 2014, is one of the most affected countries. In 2018, the devastating impact of ASF reached China, accounting for approximately 50% of the world’s pork production, in 2017 [8] (Figure 1)
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