Lymph-Node-Sampler-Based Nucleic Acid Detection Helps to Diagnose and Control African Swine Fever in Pig Production

Background: African swine fever (ASF) is a highly contagious hemorrhagic and transboundary animal disease. It has rapidly spread to many regions of the world and is responsible for serious production and economic losses. However, clinical diagnosis is impractical for the similar classic symptoms of ASF and several other normal diseases. How to make a definite diagnosis is a top priority. Results: In the present study, lymph node samples were collected by the patented “lymph node sampler”, which makes the sampling safer, more efficient and minimally invasive. The ASF virus (ASFV) contents of lymph node sample as well as serum, oral fluid, nasal and rectal swab samples from pig production line were detected by real-time PCR. The big data results demonstrated that the lymph node samples contained more stable and strongly positive ASFV nucleic acid than the porcine exudate and serum samples. Taking the lymph node sample is one of the assistant ways in diagnosing pigs suspected of having ASF. We supervised twenty farms that realized the accurate diagnosis and eliminating of the risk in the shortest time period by using lymph node sampler. Conclusions: Our findings suggest that the lymph node sample is an ideal tissue for diagnosing ASFV infection. The lymph node sampler is a convenient tool for lymph node sampling for practitioners.