African Swine Fever (ASFv)

Handling a virus ravaging the global pork industry.

The Problem

African Swine Fever has been destroying the pig industry in China and Vietnam. Now, it’s spreading to other countries. 

African Swine Fever (ASFv) is easily spread from pigs, meat, feed, water, and tracked from farm to farm by people, vehicles, and other equipment. While not a threat to human health, ASFv has the potential to rapidly affect the world’s food supply. China has lost up to 40% of its pig population, while Vietnam has lost 10% of its herd in a very short time. ASFv has recently spread to Cambodia and Thailand.

While not currently in the United States, ASFv is a significant concern to the USDA and the U.S. pork industry. The National Pork Producers Council(NPPC) canceled their 2019 World Pork Expo that annually has over 20,000 attendees from all over the world. ASFv is so infectious, the NPPC Board of Directors decided that they could not risk having people from ASFv-infected countries attend and exhibit.

~40% of the pig population lost in China due to ASFv

The Need

Safe handling of ASFv specimens in testing environments.

Companies such as Qiagen and Thermo Fisher have developed qPCR tests for African Swine Fever, but the process of sending a sample to a lab for testing risks spreading the virus. This has forced farms to set up on laboratories on their own properties. 

While very large commercial farms have the means to do so, it is much more ideal for testing to be conducted by well-trained laboratory personnel in centralized commercial or government laboratories.

Our Approach

We developed PrimeStore® MTM to be a transport device for microbial inactivation.

Cleared by the U.S. FDA for microbial inactivation, PrimeStore MTM has undergone intensive testing at the USDA and other international foreign animal disease testing labs. PrimeStore MTM is already being used worldwide for animal and avion disease surveillance.

The new configuration will be known as PrimeStore MTM HCP.