A vaccine developed in China against African Swine Fever (ASF) appears to be making good progress and is now entering the phase of further clinical trials and production studies.
The Chinese Ministry of Agriculture reported last week that scientists from the Harbin Veterinary Research Institute of the Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences (CAAS) have conducted successful tests on broiler pigs and sows.
Thousands of test animals were inoculated with ten to one hundred times the immunization dose. The director of the Harbin Institute, Bu Zhigao, reported that the piglets subsequently grew normally for at least 20 weeks and the sows had normal pregnancies without miscarriages.
In another vaccination attempt involving 3,000 market pigs at three locations in the provinces of Heilongjiang, Henan, and Xinjiang, no abnormalities were observed. The animals were in good growth condition, showed no clinical side effects, and there were no infections among the immunized pigs.
When administering various high-dose ASF pathogens, the protection rate was at least 80%, according to Tang. The ministry said researchers will now accelerate the research further in an attempt to obtain the necessary safety certification and registration for the vaccine.
Other universities and laboratories in many other countries are also trying to develop a vaccine against African swine fever. They regularly report 'progress' as well, but there has not yet been a breakthrough or a truly effective remedy.
The Chinese Ministry of Agriculture also announced last week that the pig population in China continues to grow. In July, the number of animals increased for the sixth consecutive month and was 4.8% above the level of the previous month. For the first time since April 2018, the stock was again larger than in the same month of the previous year, by 13.1%. "This is an important turning point in the recovery of pig production capacity," emphasized the agricultural department.
In all 31 Chinese provinces, there was population growth in July compared to the previous month. Recent floods had little impact on the revival of pig production but could increase the risk of spreading animal diseases, according to the ministry.
The ministry did not provide absolute figures. The growing number of animals in China apparently also ensures that feed production is picking up again. According to the national feed industry association, commercial production in July amounted to 21.9 million tons, 16.0% higher than last year. Pig feed accounted for 7.01 million tons of this; that was 36.8% more than in July 2019.