January 2022: Index case of new African Swine Fever incursion in mainland Italy

Iscaro, Carmen; Dondo, Alessandro; Ruocco, Luigi; Masoero, Loretta; Giammarioli, Monica; Zoppi, Simona; Gubertì, Vittorio; Feliziani, Francesco

doi:10.1111/tbed.14584

Cited by 30 publications

(32 citation statements)

References 12 publications

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“…As previously described [ 26 ], in 2021 (December), the first ASF case was detected in the mainland of Italy (outside Sardinia) by passive surveillance activities. As mentioned above, Sardinia was the only region in Italy historically affected by genotype I, and it was subject to level IV restrictions until 2021.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 77%

Estimation of R0 for the Spread of the First ASF Epidemic in Italy from Fresh Carcasses

Loi

Sabatino

Baldi

et al. 2022

Viruses

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After fifty years of spread in the European continent, the African swine fever (ASF) virus was detected for the first time in the north of Italy (Piedmont) in a wild boar carcass in December, 2021. During the first six months of the epidemic, the central role of wild boars in disease transmission was confirmed by more than 200 outbreaks, which occurred in two different areas declared as infected. The virus entered a domestic pig farm in the second temporal cluster identified in the center of the country (Lazio). Understanding ASF dynamics in wild boars is a prerequisite for preventing the spread, and for designing and applying effective surveillance and control plans. The aim of this work was to describe and evaluate the data collected during the first six months of the ASF epidemic in Italy, and to estimate the basic reproduction number (R0) in order to quantify the extent of disease spread. The R0 estimates were significantly different for the two spatio-temporal clusters of ASF in Italy, and they identified the two infected areas based on the time necessary for the number of cases to double (td) and on an exponential decay model. These results (R0 = 1.41 in Piedmont and 1.66 in Lazio) provide quantitative knowledge on the epidemiology of ASF in Italy. These parameters could represent a fundamental tool for modeling country-specific ASF transmission and for monitoring both the spread and sampling effort needed to detect the disease early.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 77%

Estimation of R0 for the Spread of the First ASF Epidemic in Italy from Fresh Carcasses

Loi

Sabatino

Baldi

et al. 2022

Viruses

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“…The Italian island has been affected by ASFV genotype I. In January 2022, ASFV genotype II was detected in wild boar carcasses recording about 200 wild boar cases in the north (Piedmont and Liguria regions) and in the middle (Lazio region) of Italy during the subsequent six months [ 26 ], and the first outbreak in a domestic pig farm in May 2022 [ 27 ].…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Changes in Estimating the Wild Boar Carcasses Sampling Effort: Applying the EFSA ASF Exit Strategy by Means of the WBC-Counter Tool

Cappai

Baldi

Desini

et al. 2022

Viruses

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African swine fever (ASF) is a devastating disease, resulting in the high mortality of domestic and wild pigs, spreading quickly around the world. Ensuring the prevention and early detection of the disease is even more crucial given the absence of licensed vaccines. As suggested by the European Commission, those countries which intend to provide evidence of freedom need to speed up passive surveillance of their wild boar populations. If this kind of surveillance is well-regulated in domestic pig farms, the country-specific activities to be put in place for wild populations need to be set based on wild boar density, hunting bags, the environment, and financial resources. Following the indications of the official EFSA opinion 2021, a practical interpretation of the strategy was implemented based on the failure probabilities of wrongly declaring the freedom of an area even if the disease is still present but undetected. This work aimed at providing a valid, applicative example of an exit strategy based on two different approaches: the first uses the wild boar density to estimate the number of carcasses need to complete the exit strategy, while the second estimates it from the number of wild boar hunted and tested. A practical free access tool, named WBC-Counter, was developed to automatically calculate the number of needed carcasses. The practical example was developed using the ASF data from Sardinia (Italian island). Sardinia is ASF endemic from 43 years, but the last ASFV detection dates back to 2019. The island is under consideration for ASF eradication declaration. The subsequent results provide a practical example for other countries in approaching the EFSA exit strategy in the best choices for its on-field application.

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“…The rapid escalation of the spread of genotype II ASFV in Europe from 2016 onwards was reflected in the flood of immediate notifications to WOAH as well as growing numbers of publications, starting with outbreaks in Moldova in 2016, followed by Romania and Czech Republic in 2017, Bulgaria, Hungary and Belgium in 2018, Serbia, Slovakia and Greece in 2019, Germany in 2020 and mainland Italy in 2022 [ 41 , 42 , 43 , 44 , 45 ]. The outbreaks in Moldova, Romania and Bulgaria were mainly in backyard pig farms, although there was involvement of some commercial pig farms and wild boar [ 116 , 117 , 118 , 119 ].…”

Section: Genotype IImentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The outbreaks have been restricted to wild boar in Belgium, Czech Republic and Hungary [ 43 , 120 , 121 ] and both Belgium and Czech Republic are now officially free of ASF [ 122 , 123 ]. Dead wild boar infected with a genotype II ASFV were detected in northern Italy on 29 December 2021, the first occurrence of ASF on the Italian mainland since 1980 [ 38 , 42 ].…”

Section: Genotype IImentioning

confidence: 99%

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Review of the Pig-Adapted African Swine Fever Viruses in and Outside Africa

et al. 2022

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The region in eastern, central and southern Africa (ECSA) where African swine fever (ASF) originated in a sylvatic cycle is home to all the p72 genotypes of ASF virus identified so far. While 20 of the 24 genotypes have been isolated from outbreaks in domestic pigs in the region, only five of the genotypes (I, II, VIII, IX, X) have an extended field presence associated with domestic pigs. Of the genotypes that appear to be strongly adapted to domestic pigs, two have spread beyond the African continent and have been the focus of efforts to develop vaccines against ASF. Most of the experimental ASF vaccines described do not protect against a wider spectrum of viruses and may be less useful in the event of incursions of different strains or where multiple genotypes co-exist. The other three pig-adapted strains that are currently restricted to the ECSA region might spread, and priority should be given to understanding not only the genetic and antigenic characteristics of these viruses but also their history. We review historic and current knowledge of the distribution of these five virus genotypes, and note that as was the case for genotype II, some pig-associated viruses have the propensity for geographical range expansion. These features are valuable for prioritizing vaccine-development efforts to ensure a swift response to virus escape. However, whilst ASF vaccines are critical for high-production systems, global food security relies on parallel efforts to improve biosecurity and pig production in Africa and on continued ASFV surveillance and characterisation in the ECSA region.

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January 2022: Index case of new African Swine Fever incursion in mainland Italy

Cited by 30 publications

References 12 publications

Estimation of R0 for the Spread of the First ASF Epidemic in Italy from Fresh Carcasses

Estimation of R0 for the Spread of the First ASF Epidemic in Italy from Fresh Carcasses

Changes in Estimating the Wild Boar Carcasses Sampling Effort: Applying the EFSA ASF Exit Strategy by Means of the WBC-Counter Tool

Review of the Pig-Adapted African Swine Fever Viruses in and Outside Africa

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