Evaluation of African swine fever real-time PCR diagnostics using aggregate oral fluids collected in Romania. African swine fever virus

In this study, real-time PCR with porcine oral fluids was further evaluated using samples from three Romanian farms with an ongoing natural ASF outbreak. In this limited dataset, the real-time PCR using aggregate oral fluids had higher naive diagnostic sensitivity than individual blood samples. Known negative aggregate oral fluid samples from swine in the United States had no occurrences of false positives when tested with the same real-time PCR method, suggesting reliable diagnostic specificity. Until results are produced from further studies with sufficient sample size, real-time PCR using oral fluids could cautiously be used as a supplementary sample type for ASF surveillance and diagnosis alongside currently approved sample types including blood and lymphoid tissues. Genome sequences were obtained from four samples with sufficient depth for population-based variant characterization.