A NEW METHOD FOR THE DETECTION OF AFRICAN SWINE FEVER

 
 
 
 
 

A study conducted by the IZS of Teramo shows the possibility of detecting the virus in pork meat juices, simplifying and accelerating the process during slaughter.

 

 
 
 

A study by the Istituto Zooprofilattico Sperimentale in Teramo (IZSAM) shows the validity of pork meat juice as a diagnostic material to identify the virus causing African Swine Fever (ASF).

 

African Swine Fever, not dangerous for humans, is a highly contagious viral disease with high mortality rates that targets wild and domestic pigs, causing significant economic damage to livestock. The virus is transmitted both by direct contact among infected animals and by indirect transmission, by consuming contaminated food and water. The most severe clinical signs include high fever, anorexia, lethargy and, ultimately, the death of the animal.

 

Since 2007, an epidemic caused by the highly aggressive genotype 2 of ASFV, which belongs to the Asfaviridae family, has been rapidly spreading from Georgia to Europe, Asia and the Carribeans. This prompted the need for new strategies for containing the disease, including the availability of rapid and effective methods for virus detection. Researchers at IZSAM have therefore employed real-time PCR (rt-PCR) - a process traditionally used to amplify and detect microorganisms’ genomes in biologic samples - to analyse meat juices.

 

Meat juice can be used to detect a vast number of viral, protozoal and bacterial pathogenic agents. It is usually mistaken for blood but, actually, the colour red is given by myoglobin instead of haemoglobin. In addition to myoglobin, meat juice is composed of water, glycolytic enzymes, amino acids and many water-soluble vitamins. Depending on the muscle or the anatomic part it comes from, there can also be traces of contaminating blood. Meat juice is generated during passive sweating, a complex phenomenon yet to be fully understood.

 

Nowadays, the most popular methodology for laboratory confirmation of ASF involves the analysis of blood, serum or organ samples that are usually difficult to retrieve. The study carried out by the IZSAM institute, in collaboration with the Faculty of Veterinary Medicine and the Institute for Diagnosis and Animal Health, both in Romania, and published by the scientific journal “Journal of Virological Methods”, suggests the use of meat juice as an alternative.

Meat juice had already been used in the past to observe the presence of other diseases like Classical Swine Fever and Foot-and-mouth disease. “Starting from previous studies - says Marta Cresci, researcher at the Istituto Zooprofilattico Sperimentale in Teramo and first author of the scientific paper - we have demonstrated that, if present, ASFV DNA can be easily identified in pork meat juices, enabling the detection of the virus even in cases where organ or blood samples are unavailable.”

 

The experiment, focused on a particular viral gene called p72, was conducted on 55 infected pigs belonging to an outbreak in Romania and 73 healthy pigs collected in Abruzzo. Two kinds of samples were put in comparison: the traditional spleen tissue and the meat juices extracted from diaphragmatic muscle. In this way, researchers have been able to compare the exams carried out on the two different kinds of matrices and thus confirm the validity of meat juice. Despite the lower levels of viral load in meat juices, the new method has enabled the identification of up to 90% of positive cases of the viral genotype 2 - the predominant strain circulating in Europe, well-known for its high virulence - in ten-sampled pools. This finding makes meat juices an effective, affordable and rapid alternative compared to the traditional matrices.

 

Moreover, using meat juices speeds up ASF diagnosis even in real-world settings, proving to be a broader monitoring tool for the spread of the disease. “Given the lack of of both a vaccine and effective medications to combat the disease - says Paolo Calistri, Head of the Epidemiology and Public Health Laboratory - early diagnosis using reliable tools like rt-PCR on meat juices is crucial for controlling the virus’s spread and safeguarding the industry”.

 
 
 

 

A NEW METHOD FOR THE DETECTION OF AFRICAN SWINE FEVER

Cresci M, Di Sabatino D, Barbuceanu F, Tamba P, Motiu R, Motiu M, Manita F, Vincifori G, Ciarrocchi E, Bonfini B, Portanti O, Lorusso A, Hristescu D, Calistri P. Validation of a real-time PCR assay for the detection of African swine fever virus in fresh pork meat juice. J Virol Methods. 2024 Sep;329:114980.

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jviromet.2024.114980

 

Paolo Calistri

 

Marta Cresci

 
 

 
 
 
© IZSAM January 2025
 
 
 
 
 
 

Istituto Zooprofilattico Sperimentale

dell'Abruzzo e del Molise "G. Caporale"

 

Campo Boario | 64100 TERAMO | ITALIA

Telefono 0039.0861.3321 | Fax 0039.0861.332251

e-mail: archivioeprotocollo@izs.it

Posta elettronica certificata: protocollo@pec.izs.it

Partita IVA: 00060330677

Codice Fiscale: 80006470670