African swine fever (ASF) is a viral disease that affects members of the Suidae family. The notifiable disease is considered a major threat to the pig industry, animal health, and food security worldwide. According to the European Food Safety Authority, ASF virus (ASFV) survival and transmission in feed and feed materials is a major research gap. Against this background, the objective of this study was to determine the survival of ASFV on re-contaminated spray dried porcine plasma (SDPP) when stored at two different temperatures. To this means, commercial SDPP granules were contaminated with high titers of ASFV in a worst-case re-contamination scenario. Three samples per time point and temperature condition were subjected to blind passaging on macrophage cultures and subsequent haemadsorption test to determine residual infectivity. In addition, viral genome was detected by real-time PCR. The results indicate that heavily re-contaminated SDPP stored at 4°C remains infectious for at least five weeks. In contrast, contaminated SDPP stored at room temperature displayed a distinct ASFV titer reduction after one week and complete inactivation after two weeks. In conclusion, the residual risk of ASFV transmission through re-contaminated SDPP is low, if SDPP is stored at room temperature for a period of at least two weeks before feeding.

African swine fever (ASF) has spread across many countries in Europe since the introduction into Georgia in 2007. We report here on the first cases of ASF in wild boar detected in Germany close to the border with Poland. In addition to the constant risk of ASF virus (ASFV) spread through human activities, movements of infected wild boar also represent a route of introduction. Since ASF emerged in Western Poland in November 2019, surveillance efforts, in particular examination of wild boar found dead, were intensified in the regions of Germany bordering with Poland. The first case of ASF in wild boar in Germany was therefore detected by passive surveillance and confirmed on 10th September 2020. By 24th September 2020, 32 cases were recorded. Testing of samples from tissues of carcasses in different stages of decomposition yielded cycle threshold values from 18 to 36 in the OIE-recommended PCR which were comparable between the regional and national reference laboratory. Blood swabs yielded reliable results, indicating that the method is suitable also under outbreak conditions. Phylogenetic analysis of the ASFV whole-genome sequence generated from material of the first carcass detected in Germany, revealed that it groups with ASFV genotype II including all sequences from Eastern Europe, Asia and Belgium. However, some genetic markers including a 14 bp tandem repeat duplication in the O174L gene were confirmed that have so far been detected only in sequences from Poland (including Western Poland). Epidemiological investigations that include estimated postmortem intervals of wild boar carcasses of infected animals suggest that ASFV had been introduced into Germany in the first half of July 2020 or even earlier.

Understanding African swine fever virus (ASFV) transmission in a population is essential for strategies to minimize virus spread during an outbreak. ASFV can survive for extended periods of time in animal products, carcasses, and the environment. Recent studies have shown that wild boar demonstrate interest in carcasses at an advanced stage of decay and in the soil where the remains of wild boar once were. While ASFV nucleic acids have been found in the environment around infected farms, data on the survival of the virus in soil are scarce. We investigated different soil matrices spiked with ASFV-positive blood from infected wild boar to see if ASFV can remain viable in the soil beneath infected carcasses. Moreover, we tried different mitigation strategies that could be used in affected regions. As expected, ASFV genome detection was reliably possible over the full range of sampling days. Soil pH, structure, and ambient temperature played a significant role for the stability of infectious ASFV. Infectious ASFV was demonstrated in specimens originating from sterile sand for at least three weeks, and from ordinary beach sand for up to two weeks. In yard soil, infectious ASFV was demonstrated for one week, and in soil from a swampy area for three days. Virus was not recovered from two acidic forest soils. All risk mitigation experiments with citric acid or calcium hydroxide resulted in complete inactivation in our experimental setup. In conclusion, stability of infectious ASFV is almost non-existent in forest soils but rather high in sandy soils. However, given the high variability, treatment of carcass collection points with disinfectants should be considered for additional risk reduction. In this respect, biocidal nature and occupational safety have to be considered.