Survival of a surrogate African swine fever virus-like algal virus in feed matrices using a 23-day commercial United States truck transport model

Amanda M Palowski, Cecilia Balestreri, Pedro E. Urriola, Jennifer L.G. van de Ligt, Fernando Sampedro, Scott A Dee, Apoorva Shah, Haile F. Yancy, Gerald C. Shurson, Declan C Schroeder

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

8 Scopus citations

Abstract

African swine fever virus (ASFV) is a member of the nucleocytoplasmic large DNA viruses (NCLDVs) and is stable in a variety of environments, including animal feed ingredients as shown in previous laboratory experiments and simulations. Emiliania huxleyi virus (EhV) is another member of the NCLDVs, which has a restricted host range limited to a species of marine algae called Emiliania huxleyi. This algal NCLDV has many similar morphological and physical characteristics to ASFV thereby making it a safe surrogate, with results that are applicable to ASFV and suitable for use in real-world experiments. Here we inoculated conventional soybean meal (SBMC), organic soybean meal (SBMO), and swine complete feed (CF) matrices with EhV strain 86 (EhV-86) at a concentration of 6.6 × 107 virus g−1, and then transported these samples in the trailer of a commercial transport vehicle for 23 days across 10,183 km covering 29 states in various regions of the United States. Upon return, samples were evaluated for virus presence and viability using a previously validated viability qPCR (V-qPCR) method. Results showed that EhV-86 was detected in all matrices and no degradation in EhV-86 viability was observed after the 23-day transportation event. Additionally, sampling sensitivity (we recorded unexpected increases, as high as 49% in one matrix, when virus was recovered at the end of the sampling period) rather than virus degradation best explains the variation of virus quantity observed after the 23-day transport simulation. These results demonstrate for the first time that ASFV-like NCLDVs can retain viability in swine feed matrices during long-term transport across the continental United States.

Original languageEnglish (US)
Article number1059118
JournalFrontiers in Microbiology
Volume13
DOIs
StatePublished - Dec 9 2022

Bibliographical note

Funding Information:
This project was funded by SAM Nutrition.

Publisher Copyright:
Copyright © 2022 Palowski, Balestreri, Urriola, van de Ligt, Sampedro, Dee, Shah, Yancy, Shurson and Schroeder.

Keywords

  • African swine fever virus
  • Emiliania huxleyi virus
  • NCLDVs
  • feed
  • transport
  • viability PCR

PubMed: MeSH publication types

  • Journal Article

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