A scientist at EARA member Complutense University of Madrid, Spain, is at the forefront of efforts to find a vaccine against African swine fever (ASF) as it causes devastation across the world.

The highly contagious disease affects pigs and has already resulted in millions of the animals being culled.

Complutense’s Professor José Manuel Sánchez-Vizcaíno is the co-ordinator of the EU-funded global consortium, VACDIVA, that is testing three possible ASF vaccines to use in domestic pigs and wild boars.

He told The Guardian: “While it is possible to eradicate ASF without vaccination, it takes a long time to do it. You have to know the virus really well and understand where it hides and its tricks.”

If large-scale trials show that the vaccine candidates are safe and effective, he hoped that a vaccine could be ready to use by 2024.

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Science – African swine fever settles into Asia (26/04/2023)