Viability of African Swine Fever Virus with the Shallow Burial with Carbon Carcass Disposal Method
Hoang Minh Duc,
Mark Hutchinson,
Gary A. Flory,
Pham Hong Ngan,
Hoang Minh Son,
Le Van Hung,
Tran Thi Khanh Hoa,
Nguyen Thi Lan,
Truong Quang Lam,
Dale Rozeboom,
Marta D. Remmenga,
Matthew Vuolo,
Robert Miknis,
Amira Burns,
Renée Flory
Affiliations
Hoang Minh Duc
Department of Veterinary Public Health, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, Vietnam National University of Agriculture, Trau Quy, Gia Lam, Hanoi 12406, Vietnam
Mark Hutchinson
Maine Food and Agriculture Center, University of Maine Cooperative Extension, Orono, ME 04473, USA
Gary A. Flory
G.A. Flory Consulting, Mt. Crawford, VA 22841, USA
Pham Hong Ngan
Department of Veterinary Public Health, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, Vietnam National University of Agriculture, Trau Quy, Gia Lam, Hanoi 12406, Vietnam
Hoang Minh Son
Department of Anatomy and Histology, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, Vietnam National University of Agriculture, Trau Quy, Gia Lam, Hanoi 12406, Vietnam
Le Van Hung
Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, Vietnam National Univeristy of Agriculture, Trau Quy, Gia Lam, Hanoi 12406, Vietnam
Tran Thi Khanh Hoa
Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, Vietnam National Univeristy of Agriculture, Trau Quy, Gia Lam, Hanoi 12406, Vietnam
Nguyen Thi Lan
Department of Pathoglogy, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, Vietnam National University of Agriculture, Trau Quy, Gia Lam, Hanoi 12406, Vietnam
Truong Quang Lam
Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, Vietnam National Univeristy of Agriculture, Trau Quy, Gia Lam, Hanoi 12406, Vietnam
Dale Rozeboom
Department of Animal Science, Michigan State University Cooperative Extension, Lansing, MI 48824, USA
Marta D. Remmenga
Center for Epidemiology and Animal Health, Veterinary Service, U.S. Department of Agriculture, Animal and Plant Health Inspection Services, Fort Collins, CO 80521, USA
Matthew Vuolo
Center for Epidemiology and Animal Health, Veterinary Service, U.S. Department of Agriculture, Animal and Plant Health Inspection Services, Fort Collins, CO 80521, USA
Robert Miknis
U.S. Department of Agriculture, Animal and Plant Health Inspection Services, Fort Collins, CO 80521, USA
Amira Burns
Department of Statistics, Colorado State University, Fort Collins, CO 80523, USA
Renée Flory
English Department, Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, MD 21218, USA
African swine fever (ASF) is a highly contagious swine disease with high mortality. In many countries, culling pigs infected and exposed to the ASF virus is mandatory to control the disease, which poses a real challenge in the disposal of large numbers of carcasses during ASF outbreaks. Shallow burial with carbon (SBC) Thanks ew mortality disposal method developed from deep burial and composting. The present study investigates the effectiveness of SBC in disposing of ASF virus-infected pigs. The real-time PCR results showed that DNA of the ASF virus was still detected in bone marrow samples on day 56, while the virus isolation test revealed that the infectious ASF virus was destroyed in both spleen and bone marrow samples on day 5. Interestingly, decomposition was found to occur rapidly in these shallow burial pits. On day 144, only large bones were found in the burial pit. In general, the results of this study indicated that SBC is a potential method for the disposal of ASF-infected carcasses; however, further studies are needed to provide more scientific evidence for the efficacy of SBC in different environment conditions.
