Third wave of African swine fever infection in Armenia: Virus demonstrates the reduction of pathogenicity

Vet World Vol.11 January-2018 Article-2

Research Article

Veterinary World, 11(1): 5-9

https://doi.org/10.14202/vetworld.2018.5-9

M. A. Sargsyan¹, H. E. Voskanyan², E. M. Karalova², L. H. Hakobyan², and Z. A. Karalyan^2,3

1. Department of Epizootiology and Parasitology, Armenian National Agrarian University, Yerevan 0009, Armenia.
2. Laboratory of Cell Biology and Virology, Institute of Molecular Biology of The National Academy of Sciences of the Republic of Armenia (NAS RA), 7 Hasratyan St., Yerevan 0014, Armenia.
3. Department of Biology, Yerevan State Medical University, Yerevan, Armenia.

Background and Aim: First cases of clinically uncommon African swine fever (ASF), caused by virus genotype II are described in this article. These cases occurred in Armenia, Tavush region, Dilijan municipality in 2011. The aim of this study was to identify and describe the new pathogenic forms of ASF in Armenia.

Materials and Methods: The isolation and identification of ASF virus (ASFV) were carried out using conventional techniques. Clinical signs of infection were recorded daily. Gross anatomical pathology characteristics were observed during routine postmortem examinations. Blood and serum were obtained by puncture of the jugular vein using a vacutainer system.

Results: The presence of ASFV DNA in the spleens was confirmed by polymerase chain reaction. Sequenced sections of p72 showed phylogenetic identity to genotype 2. The pathology exhibits unusual manifestations of the main disease. The unusual form of ASF demonstrates characteristics of a subacute form of the disease, with the possibility of conversion to a chronic form. Decreased lethality, low level of hemorrhages, and absence of severe pancytopenia in smears from spleen, lymph nodes, and blood are common features of the new form of ASF. Unlike severe thrombocytopenia in the typical ASF, the unusual form exhibited moderate or minor decrease of this feature. Despite a moderate decrease in hemadsorption titers, the unusual pattern of the disease was characterized by viremia and the presence of the virus in the visceral organs, including the brain.

Conclusion: Our data allow assuming that new nosological form of ASF (genotype II) may present as a transitional form of the disease with the possibility of chronization. Keywords: African swine fever, chronization, new isolate, viremia.

Keywords: African swine fever, chronization, new isolate, viremia.

How to cite this article: Sargsyan MA, Voskanyan HE, Karalova EM, Hakobyan LH, Karalyan ZA (2018) Third wave of African swine fever infection in Armenia: Virus demonstrates the reduction of pathogenicity, Veterinary World, 11(1): 5-9.

Received: 10-09-2017 Accepted: 05-12-2017 Published online: 11-01-2018

Corresponding author: Z. A. Karalyan E-mail: zkaralyan@yahoo.com

DOI: 10.14202/vetworld.2018.5-9

Copyright: Sargsyan, et al. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons license, and indicate if changes were made. The Creative Commons Public Domain Dedication waiver (http:// creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/) applies to the data made available in this article, unless otherwise stated.