Human infections with African Swine Fever may be the biggest threat to public health these days. ASFV is spreading in China, Eastern Europe, and Korea. It is on the border between Poland and Germany. Will Germany lead the way in exploring the threat of African Swine Fever to human health?

TheAfrican Swine Fever Novel Audiobook Excerpt

Wednesday, August 28, 2019

Human infections with African Swine Fever is a very real possibility.



Loh J, Zhao G, Presti RM, Holtz LR, Finkbeiner SR, Droit L, Villasana Z, Todd C, Pipas JM, Calgua B, Girones R, Wang D, Virgin HW.

Departments of Pathology & Immunology and Molecular Microbiology, Department of Medicine and Department of Pediatrics, Washington University School of Medicine, St. Louis, Missouri; Department of Biological Sciences, University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania; Department of Microbiology, Faculty of Biology, University of Barcelona, Barcelona, Spain.

"The family Asfarviridae contains only a single virus species, African swine fever virus (ASFV). ASFV is a viral agent with significant economic impact due to its devastating effects on populations of domesticated pigs during outbreaks, but has not been reported to infect humans. We report here the discovery of novel viral sequences in human serum and sewage which are clearly related to the Asfarvirus family, but highly divergent from ASFV. Detection of these sequences suggests that greater genetic diversity may exist among Asfarviruses than previously thought, and raises the possibility that human infection by Asfarviruses may occur." http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/19812170?dopt=Abstract