African Swine Fever (ASF) is a highly contagious and fatal viral disease affecting both domestic and wild suids. The virus was introduced to Southeast Asia in early 2019 and has since spread rapidly throughout the region. Although significant efforts have been made to track and diagnose the disease in domestic pigs, very little is known about ASF in free‐ranging wild boar and their potential role in maintaining the disease within Southeast Asia. Through a collaboration between government and non‐government actors in Laos, Viet Nam, and Cambodia, investigations were conducted to (a) characterize the interface between domestic pigs and wild boar, (b) document risk factors for likely ASF spillover into wild boar populations by way of this interface, and (c) determine whether ASF in wild boar could be detected in each country. An extensive overlap between wild boar habitat and domestic pig ranging areas was found around villages bordering forests in all three countries, creating a high‐risk interface for viral spillover between domestic pig and wild boar populations. Fifteen and three wild boar carcasses were detected through passive reporting in Laos and Viet Nam, respectively, in 2019 and early 2020. Four of five carcasses screened in Laos and two of three in Viet Nam were confirmed positive for African swine fever virus using real‐time PCR. There were no confirmed reports of wild boar carcasses in Cambodia. This is the first confirmation of ASF in wild boar in Southeast Asia, the result of a probable viral spillover from domestic pigs, which highlights the importance of early reporting and monitoring of ASF in wild boar to enable the implementation of appropriate biosecurity measures.

Despite the discovery of several closely related viruses in bats, the direct evolutionary progenitor of SARS-CoV-2 has not yet been identified. In this study, we investigated potential animal sources of SARS-related coronaviruses using archived specimens from Sunda pangolins (Manis javanica) and Chinese pangolins (Manis pentadactyla) confiscated from the illegal wildlife trade, and from common palm civets (Paradoxurus hermaphroditus) raised on wildlife farms in Viet Nam. A total of 696 pangolin and civet specimens were screened for the presence of viral RNA from five zoonotic viral families and from Sarbecoviruses using primers specifically designed for pangolin coronaviruses. We also performed a curated data collection of media reports of wildlife confiscation events involving pangolins in Viet Nam between January 2016 and December 2020, to illustrate the global pangolin supply chain in the context of Viet Nam where the trade confiscated pangolins were sampled for this study. All specimens from pangolins and civets sampled along the wildlife supply chains between February 2017 and July 2018, in Viet Nam and tested with conventional PCR assays designed to detect flavivirus, paramyxovirus, filovirus, coronavirus, and orthomyxovirus RNA were negative. Civet samples were also negative for Sarbecoviruses, but 12 specimens from seven live pangolins confiscated in Hung Yen province, northern Viet Nam, in 2018 were positive for Sarbecoviruses. Our phylogenetic trees based on two fragments of the RdRp gene revealed that the Sarbecoviruses identified in these pangolins were closely related to pangolin coronaviruses detected in pangolins confiscated from the illegal wildlife trade in Yunnan and Guangxi provinces, China. Our curated data collection of media reports of wildlife confiscation events involving pangolins in Viet Nam between January 2016 and December 2020, reflected what is known about pangolin trafficking globally. Pangolins confiscated in Viet Nam were largely in transit, moving toward downstream consumers in China. Confiscations included pangolin scales sourced originally from Africa (and African species of pangolins), or pangolin carcasses and live pangolins native to Southeast Asia (predominately the Sunda pangolin) sourced from neighboring range countries and moving through Viet Nam toward provinces bordering China.

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A One Health cross-sectoral surveillance approach was implemented to screen biological samples from bats, pigs, and humans at high-risk interfaces for zoonotic viral spillover for five viral families with zoonotic potential in Viet Nam. Over 1600 animal and human samples from bat guano harvesting sites, natural bat roosts, and pig farming operations were tested for coronaviruses (CoVs), paramyxoviruses, influenza viruses, filoviruses and flaviviruses using consensus PCR assays. Human samples were also tested using immunoassays to detect antibodies against eight virus groups. Significant viral diversity, including CoVs closely related to ancestors of pig pathogens, was detected in bats roosting at the human–animal interfaces, illustrating the high risk for CoV spillover from bats to pigs in Viet Nam, where pig density is very high. Season and reproductive period were significantly associated with the detection of bat CoVs, with site-specific effects. Phylogeographic analysis indicated localized viral transmission among pig farms. Our limited human sampling did not detect any known zoonotic bat viruses in human communities living close to the bat cave and harvesting bat guano, but our serological assays showed possible previous exposure to Marburg virus-like (Filoviridae), Crimean–Congo hemorrhagic fever virus-like (Bunyaviridae) viruses and flaviviruses. Targeted and coordinated One Health surveillance helped uncover this viral pathogen emergence hotspot.

Purpose: The purpose of this study is to investigate the impact of formal institutions and their components on productivity spillovers from FDI enterprises to domestic firms’ TFP in developing countries like Vietnam. Design/methodology/approach: The study, conducted in two steps to explore the relationship, is to estimate the firm's TFP in accordance with the semi-parametric method of Levisohn and Petrin (2003). Regression is in accordance with the equation with panel data and adjusted by Driscoll and Kraay standard errors. An unbalanced panel data, related to more than 61,600 Vietnamese manufacturing firms from 2012 to 2017, is combined with the Provincial Institutional Quality Survey (PAPI index) and IO table. Findings: The local institutions have a positive impact on promoting learning ability and increasing productivity of domestic firms, especially small and medium enterprises (SMEs) that take better advantage of this effect. Vertical linkages with FDI enterprises assist local firms to increase productivity while horizontal linkages bring in negative effects. Domestic enterprises with high productivity (in the top 25%) receive positive spillover effects from horizontal linkages and vertical linkages and gain positive impacts of the institution on productivity whereas the group of low-productivity enterprises records negative impacts. This research highlights those enterprises operating in the region where institutions have transparency, accountability, participation in comments and effective corruption control can absorb spillovers and improve their productivity as well as the transparency and corruption control are recognized as having a positive impact through horizontal linkages. Research limitations/implications: With the limitation of research data being conducted only on manufacturing enterprises, there is a lack of data on the impact of service enterprises. The study only stops at understanding the impact of formal institutional effects on productivity spillovers whereas informal institutional effects will be studied in the future. Furthermore, the productivity spillovers of FDI enterprises are explored in general besides other FDI forms that will have different productivity spillovers like offshore. From the results of this study, the governments of developing countries should improve their institutions to encourage local enterprises to take the advantage of spillover effects from FDI enterprises as well as pay more attention to regional factors by supplementing development priority policies based on the capacity of each region. Institutional quality at provincial level has a positive impact on productivity spillovers; consequently, it is essential to have policies for further institutional improvement. Originality/value: This is the first research paper on the impact of the institutional factor at provincial level on firm’s productivity in developing countries like Vietnam. Theoretically, the impact of formal institutions on spillover effects from FDI enterprises is also clarified. In addition, our findings have implications for local economic development policies: vertical linkages promote domestic firms to increase their productivity while horizontal linkages of FDI enterprises in the same industry generate adverse impacts. This paper suggests some feasible solutions for SMEs in developing countries towards their productivity improvement.