An investigation into natural resistance to African swine fever in domestic pigs from an endemic area in southern Africa

A population of domestic pigs in northern Mozambique with increased resistance to the pathogenic effects of African swine fever (ASF) virus was identified by the high prevalence of circulating antibodies to ASF virus. An attempt was made to establish whether the resistance in this population was heritable. Some of these pigs were acquired and transported to a quarantine facility and allowed to breed naturally. Offspring of the resistant pigs were transferred to a high security facility where they were challenged with two ASF viruses, one of which was isolated from one of the Mozambican pigs and the other a genetically closely-related virus from Madagascar. All but one of the 105 offspring challenged developed acute ASF and died. It therefore appears that the resistance demonstrated by these pigs is not inherited by their offspring, or could not be expressed under the conditions of the experiment. The question remains therefore as to the mechanism whereby pigs in the population from which the experimental pigs were derived co-existed with virulent ASF viruses.