About:

• African swine fever virus (ASFV) is a large, double-stranded DNA virus in the Asfarviridae family.
• It is the causative agent of African swine fever (ASF).
• The virus causes a hemorrhagic fever with high mortality rates in domestic pigs; some isolates can cause death of animals as quickly as a week after infection.
• It persistently infects its natural hosts, warthogs, bushpigs, and soft ticks of the genus Ornithodoros, which likely act as a vector, with no disease signs.
• It does not cause disease in humans. ASFV is endemic to sub-Saharan Africa and exists in the wild through a cycle of infection between ticks and wild pigs, bushpigs, and warthogs.
• The disease was first described after European settlers brought pigs into areas endemic with ASFV, and as such, is an example of an emerging infectious disease.
• ASFV replicates in the cytoplasm of infected cells.
• It is the only virus with a double-stranded DNA genome known to be transmitted by arthropods.