African swine fever (ASF) is a hemorrhagic contagious porcine disease caused by the African swine fever virus. The disease poses enormous problems to the pork industry with pig mortality ranging from 30% to 100%, depending on the virulence of the virus circulating. Cameroon, situated in Central Africa is one of the countries in which the African swine fever virus (ASFV) has been endemic since its first outbreak in 1982. The disease is a major problem to the pig industry causing huge economic losses. A clear and concise review on ASF in Cameroon relating to the entry and current genotype of the virus, epidemiology, pathogenesis and economic impact is lacking. A thorough literature search revealed: (1) The virus entered the country in 1982 and caused the death of 80% of the pigs. (2) All isolates belong to serogroup I and only Genotype I is circulating in Cameroon principally in the domestic cycle as there are neither soft ticks nor warthog in the pig production regions sampled. (3) 70% of the pig farmers are involved in the traditional system of production with local and hybrid breeds of pigs with minimal input. (4) The country is endemic to the virus with huge economic losses. (5) So far, very little research has been effected on ASFV in Cameroon. This review gives a detailed overview of the situation of African swine fever virus (ASFV) in the country along with potential avenues for future research into ASFV in Cameroon.
African swine fever and swine erysipelas are two devastating diseases with similar manifestations ravaging the domestic pig industry. Only a single phylogenetic study has been carried out in Cameroon, and neither an extensive genotyping aimed at identifying the different serotypes nor has an appropriate differential diagnosis of different species of Erysipelothrix has been effected in ASF-infected animals. Of the 377 blood or tissue samples randomly collected from pig farms and slaughter slabs from January to August 2020, 120 were positive for ASFV (by PCR), giving a prevalence of 31.83%. Intragenomic resolution through sequencing divulged the presence of genotypes I, and Ia, two variants with 19 (ABNAAAACBNABTDBNAFA) and six (ABNAFA) tandem repeat sequences (TRS), serotype IV, and a single GGAATATATA repeat. The sole presence of E. tonsillarum (avirulent species) and not E. rhusiopathiae (virulent species) indicates that the severity observed during the 2020 ASF outbreak in the sampled regions was exclusively due to ASFV genotype I infection. Such characterisations are necessary for designing effective control measures and future potential vaccine candidates.
The African swine fever virus (ASFV) has been circulating in and ravaging the swine industry in Cameroon for decades. Annual ASFV epidemics occur in Cameroon from April to August. With the absence of vaccines and antiviral drugs against this virus, biosecurity has been the only effective control tool available. When properly applied, biosecurity measures allow control of the spread of ASFV and the eventual eradication of this virus. Many outbreak investigations by PCR were effected in Cameroon, with ASFV prevalences ranging from 15.23% to 42.80%. Considering that pre-outbreak studies are not available for Cameroon, the present study aimed at assessing the status of the animals before an outbreak. A two-stage cluster sampling study was conducted from January to March 2020. In this study, the primary unit was the farm and the secondary unit was the individual animals. In all, 97 farms were visited and 277 samples were collected. Pre-outbreak ASFV prevalence, as assessed by PCR, was 9.75%. In parallel, data were collected using a survey of farm characteristics, awareness and attitude of the farmers toward ASF. The survey results showed that 34.1% of the farms were backyard cemented piggeries with the majority having less than 10 pigs (54.1%). The majority of farmers (90.6%) had heard of and knew about the disease caused by ASF. Though 69.4% of the farmers were uninformed on the clinical signs of ASF, 73.6% of them did treat sick pigs presenting similar clinical signs to ASF (with no risk of mortality) with antibiotics, while 79.4% did not treat but sold the pigs presenting clinical signs similar to ASF with an increased risk of mortality. Sixty-three percent of the farmers had reported a case of ASF in the past and believed that reporting was useful and had no negative consequences on other farmers or third parties. We established that poor implementation of biosecurity measures in addition to poor training are contributing factors to the enzootic nature of ASFV in Cameroon and, thus, the spread of ASFV. Hence, pig farmers in Cameroon must be properly trained in ASFV awareness and the impact thereof on pig production. Furthermore, training will also facilitate the successful implementation of biosecurity measures to contain ASFV outbreaks.
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