Recent advances in diagnosis of classical swine fever and future perspectives

Authors: WANG, LIHUA - Kansas State University; MADERA, RACHEL - Kansas State University; LI, YUZHEN - Kansas State University; McVey, David; Drolet, Barbara; SHI, JISHU - Kansas State University

Submitted to: Pathogens
Publication Type: Review Article
Publication Acceptance Date: 8/13/2020
Publication Date: 8/15/2020
Citation: Wang, L., Madera, R., Li, Y., McVey, D.S., Drolet, B.S., Shi, J. 2020. Recent advances in diagnosis of classical swine fever and future perspectives. Pathogens. 9(8):658. https://doi.org/10.3390/pathogens9080658.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.3390/pathogens9080658

Interpretive Summary: Classical swine fever (CSF), also known as hog cholera, is a highly contagious viral disease of domestic and wild swine. It is regarded as one of the major problems in the pig industry as it is still endemic in many regions of the world and has the potential to cause devastating epidemics, particularly in countries free of the disease. Since clinical presentations of CSF are highly variable and may be confused with other viral diseases in pigs, rapid, reliable, unambiguous diagnosis is of utmost importance in the control of CSF. On an international level, well-established diagnostic tests for both the virus and antibodies to the virus have described in detail in the OIE Terrestrial Manual. However, recently developed, improved CSF diagnostic methods based on modern technologies are missing from the manual. This review presents recent advances in the diagnosis of CSF and future perspectives as a reference for the animal health industry.

Technical Abstract: Abstract: Classical swine fever (CSF) is a highly contagious viral disease of pigs, including wild boar. It is regarded as one of the major problems in pig industry as it is still endemic in many regions of the world and has the potential to cause devastating epidemics, particularly in countries free of the disease. Rapid and reliable diagnosis is of the utmost importance in the control of CSF. Since clinical presentations of CSF are highly variable and may be confused with other pig diseases, laboratory diagnosis is indispensable for an unambiguous diagnosis. On the international level, well-established diagnostic tests of CSF such as virus isolation, virus neutralization test (VNT), reverse-transcription polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR), enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) and fluorescent antibody test (FAT) have been described in detail in the OIE Terrestrial Manual. However, improved CSF diagnostic methods or alternatives based on modern technologies have been reported in recent years. This review thus presents recent advances in the diagnosis of CSF and future perspectives.