By Geoffrey Kamadi
Pig farmers have a problem. Since it was first detected in Kenya a century ago, African swine fever has spread to over 50 countries worldwide. In China, recent outbreaks have killed an estimated 40% of the country’s pig population. And since the viral disease has been found as near to the US as the Dominican Republic, potential contagion has also become a major concern for the pig industry in the US. The virus poses a big threat to the pork industry worldwide.
Though the disease has been around for a while, efforts to control its spread still rely on basic biocontrol methods such as culls. Combine that with the virulent nature of the disease and some farmers have begun to shy away from pig husbandry.
But the demand for meat products in Africa is on an upward trajectory. Pigs are considered relatively cost-effective animals to raise. They grow very fast and eat almost anything, which makes them suitable for raising in lower-income, rural settings.
The successful development of a vaccine for African swine fever would be welcome news for the pig industry on the continent. To try to solve this problem, researchers at the International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI), based in Nairobi, Kenya, have recently developed a novel vaccine candidate against the genotype IX strain of the African swine fever virus (ASFV) using a CRISPR-enabled gene deletion method.
By knocking out a key section of the viral genome, the researchers created a weakened form of the virus that can induce an immune response without becoming an infectious disease. Vaccines based on weakened versions of viruses are often referred to as attenuated virus vaccines.
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