The Vietnamese Ministry of Agriculture gave limited approval for an African swine fever (ASF) vaccine last week.. In recent years, the disease has hit the pig population in Asian and European countries hard.. Science reports..

Vietnam's National Veterinary Joint Stock Company has developed a vaccine based on a US Agricultural Research Service strain of ASF virus that lacks a virulence-associated gene.

A 20-animal trial reported in September 2021 found strong evidence of protection; company says unpublished follow-up trials on 131 pigs showed 99% of those who received the full dose survived ASF infection.

Based on these results, the ministry approved the commercial use of the vaccine in 600,000 pigs.. Until now, the only way to control ASF has been to kill all livestock within a 20 km radius of the outbreak..

Endemic in Africa, ASF spread to much of Europe in the 2000s and Asia in 2018, requiring culling and leading to a shortage of pork, the main source of protein throughout the region.

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African swine fever (ASF) is a highly contagious infectious disease that destroys the entire livestock in a farm in a very short time.. ASF first appeared in Ukraine in 2012. In early February of this year, an outbreak of African swine fever was recorded in Zhytomyr in the subsidiary farm of a penal colony. 95 animals were killed and disposed of.

ASF does not pose a danger to humans.