4. DISCUSSION
It has been almost a hundred years since ASF was first described in Kenya and today ASF is a greater threat to pig populations throughout the world. Despite numerous efforts by research groups across the globe, there is no vaccine for ASF and the disease is difficult to eradicate once established and has increased the geographic prevalence. Control of this disease relies on detection and containment and therefore rapid and sensitive diagnostics for ASF are really critical and important. Currently, there are numerous molecular and serological methods available to identify ASFV-infected animals (Abad et al., 1998; Fernández‐Pinero et al., 2013; King et al., 2003; Tignon et al., 2011). Serological assays are used to determine if an animal has been exposed to ASFV. Molecular tests can detect the presence of ASFV in pigs even before to the clinical signs appear. A number of molecular assays including laboratory based, portable conventional and real-time loop-mediated isothermal amplification (LAMP) assays have been developed and validated for ASFV genome detection. Real-time PCR is the preferred assay used in many diagnostic laboratories since it is quantitative and faster compared to conventional PCR (Daigle et al.; King et al., 2003; Tignon et al., 2011; A. Wang et al., 2020; Y. Wang et al., 2020). Most of these assays are based on B646L (p72) gene. In this study, we have developed a new assay that targets ASF p54 gene. The results obtained in this study also showed that the VNUA-P54 assay is highly specific and sensitive and performs comparable to the widely used Tignon assay. The VNUA-P54 assay can be used to detect ASFV in different sample types including blood, serum, spleen, and kidney on its own or as an ancillary tool. The VNUA-P54 real-time PCR assay developed in this study will be an additional tool in our effort for rapid detection of ASFV in order to control the ongoing global epidemic.