African swine fever: A most important transboundary animal disease of
pigs of recent times in India and lessons learnt for addressing other
exotic transboundary animal diseases
Ram Pratim Deka
International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI)
International Symposium on Zoonotic and Transboundary Diseases
Meghalaya, India
1–2 December 2022

African swine fever (ASF)
• A notifiable transboundary viral disease of swine of all ages, caused by ASFV, a
member of genus Asfivirus
• In India, the disease was first reported in Assam and Arunachal Pradesh,
Northeast India in April 2020
• Affects all age groups of pigs, both domestic and wild
• Mortality may go up to 100%
• No treatment or vaccine available till date
• Not a zoonosis
2

ASF timeline
3
1st
described
in Kenya
Sub-sharan
African
Countries
Europe-
Portugal
Spain
France etc
Dominican
Republic &
Haiti
Asia
China & South-East
Asia including
Myanmar
1st reported from
Assam & Arunachal
Pradesh

Timeline required in Assam to address ASF
4
Lot of unusual
mortality of pigs
in Dhemaji & few
other Districts
First tentative
diagnosis by AAU
Regular
diagnosis
started at
NERDDL
Confirmed
diagnosis by
NIHSAD
Fund allocation
for culling &
compensation

Govt. of India - ASF control initiatives
5
ASF
control
initiatives
Advisories to states on
ASF outbreak
National Action Plan
(ASF)
Surveillance
Zoning
Movement control
Action plan for
containment zones
Culling & compensation
Safe disposal of carcass
Cleaning & disinfection
Animal quarantine &
movement control at
checkpoints
Sentinel pig introduction
50% of compensation fund
allocated under ASCAD

Govt. of Assam - ASF control initiatives
6
Drafted State Action Plan (ASF)
Organised community awareness & training
programme
Conducted cleaning and disinfection drive
Conducted surveillance & diagnosis
Initiated culling & compensation

ICAR-NRCP, ALPCo & AAU-ASF control initiatives
7
ICAR-NRCP & ICAR-NIHSAD
• Diagnosis
• Training
• Extension text
• Disinfection
• App development
• Advisory support
AAU
• Diagnosis
• Training
• Extension text
• Awareness camps
• Advisory support

ILRI under World Bank aided APART project supporting the state
8
Risk assesment study Brochures- Assamese & English Biosecurity infrastruture
Awareness & training State level workshop on ASF Regional level policy workshop
on ASF
Brought international ASF
experts from FAO, CISA-INIA,
UAB etc.

Outcome?
9
ASF is still spreading to newer areas

Challenges faced in addressing ASF in Assam
10
Challanges
Inadequate
collaborative
actions
Intra & inter
departmental
Interstate cum
country & state
Standard practices
not customised to
our context
Farming system
Biosecurity
Disease
management
Slow pace of every
action
Difficulty in culling
& compensation
Fund allocation to a new
activity is a time-
consuming process
Administrative & socio-
political issues
Unabated smuggling,
slaughter & selling
Delay in disease
diagnosis &
reporting
Poor surveillance
mechanism
Poor access to
diagnostic & lab
Poor knowledge &
capacity
Faulty sampling,
sample collection,
zoning etc.
Poor access to
money,
manpower &
materials
Poor motivation &
poor realization of
urgency
Under reporting
Lack of advance
planning &
preparation

Few other transboundary animal diseases (TADs) in India
11
• Lumpy skin disease
• Peste des petits ruminants
• Porcine reproductive and respiratory syndrome
• Blue tongue
• Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza A
• Classical swine fever
• Foot-and-mouth Disease

A lesson for future to address any emerging TAD
12
Control
&
management
planning
Initiate meticulous planning while TAD knocks the door of neighbour
Review other countries experience & make customised plan
Develop system and protocol for every important action possible
Allocate financial resources for the emerging TAD or develop a corpus fund
Build awareness & capacity among different level of Vets of state departments
Order some lab consumables and make few labs ready to test & ask the epidemiological unit to design
surveillance programme
Initiate surveillance programme in bordering areas with instruction to report any suspected sign/s
within 24 hours
Put the disease management actions standby
Keep the target of restricting the disease within one or couple of km radius by immediate prompt
action

• Disease is inevitable
• Lessons learnt from present outbreaks of African swine fever and lumpy skin
disease should be good enough to address future outbreaks of any emerging
transboundary animal disease
• Every passing day adds burden to disease management
• Pace of every action is critical; needs to work timely and decisively
“Preparation through education is less costly than learning through tragedy”
-Max Mayfield
Conclusion
13

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