A Chinese vaccine designed to combat the African swine fever (ASF) virus /is so far proving safe in clinical trials.
The official Chinese news agency /says it will push hog farming one step closer/ to be able to prevent one of the world’s most devastating livestock diseases.
Reuters reports that the development progress is being watched closely by pig farmers across the globe/because there is currently no cure or vaccine to use against ASF.
The disease kills virtually every animal it infects and has devastated China’s hog herds since it first showed up in 2018.
The virus is still killing pigs in China, and it has also been found in other places in Asia. Chinese researchers at the Harvin Veterinary Research Institute, which is part of the Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, say they’ve developed a safe attenuated vaccine that has proven effective against the ASF virus during testing in laboratories.
Clinical trials of the vaccine were given the go-ahead in March and have been underway on 3,000 pigs in three different locations in China, including the northeast, far west, and the central parts of the country.
