Scientists from Australia and the US are teaming up to tackle devastating African swine fever

Scientists from Australia and the US are teaming up to tackle devastating African swine fever with a safe and effective vaccine. Regraded as one of animal science's biggest challenges, the aim is to develop a safe and effective vaccine to bring the viral pandemic devastating the world's pig industries under control. Australia's national science agency, CSIRO, and US biotech firm MBF Therapeutics are working together to evaluate a novel DNA vaccine candidate for ASF. While Australia has never had an outbreak of African swine fever, it has recently spread through Asia and is now found in Indonesia, Timor-Leste and Papua New Guinea. It's estimated a large-scale outbreak in Australia would cost the economy up to $2 billion, killing up to 100 per cent of infected pigs. The vaccine will be evaluated in the secure laboratories at CSIRO's Australian Centre for Disease Preparedness in Geelong. African swine fever expert at ACDP, Dr David Williams, said scientists had not yet been able to ...