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.