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BRIEF RESEARCH REPORT article

Front. Vet. Sci.
Sec. Veterinary Infectious Diseases
Volume 11 - 2024 | doi: 10.3389/fvets.2024.1441697
This article is part of the Research Topic African swine fever virus (ASFV) in the one health approach View all 6 articles

A rosin-functionalised plastic surface inactivates African Swine Fever Virus

Provisionally accepted
Johanneke D. Hemmink Johanneke D. Hemmink 1Sailee Shroff Sailee Shroff 2Naomi Chege Naomi Chege 3Marjo Haapakoski Marjo Haapakoski 2Linda K. Dixon Linda K. Dixon 4Varpu S. Marjomäki Varpu S. Marjomäki 2*
  • 1 International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI), Nairobi, Kenya
  • 2 University of Jyväskylä, Jyväskylä, Central Finland, Finland
  • 3 Department of Biological Sciences, Faculty of Science, University of Calgary, Calgary, Alberta, Canada
  • 4 The Pirbright Institute, Woking, England, United Kingdom

The final, formatted version of the article will be published soon.

    African swine fever virus (ASFV) causes a severe haemorrhagic disease in pigs leading to up to 100% case fatality. The virus may persist on solid surfaces for long periods, thus fomites, such as contaminated clothing, footwear, farming tools, equipments and transport vehicles may contribute to indirect transmission of the virus. Here, a plastic surface functionalized with tall oil rosin was tested against ASFV virus. The rosin-functionalised plastic reduced ASFV infectious virus titres by a1.3 log10 after 60 minutes contact time and killed all detectable virus from 120 minutes contact time, leading to a ~6 log10 reduction. In contrast, the infectious virus titre of ASFV in contact with low-density polyethylene (LDPE) plastic reduced <1 log10 after 120 minutes. Transmission electron microscopy (TEM) showed significant morphological changes in the virus after 2 hours contact with the rosin-functionalised plastic surface, but not the LDPE plastic. The use of antiviral plastic in the farming sector could reduce the spread of the ASFV through fomites and could thus be part of an integrated program to control ASFV.

    Keywords: African Swine Fever, ASFV, Rosin, antiviral surface, Plastic

    Received: 31 May 2024; Accepted: 03 Sep 2024.

    Copyright: © 2024 Hemmink, Shroff, Chege, Haapakoski, Dixon and Marjomäki. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.

    * Correspondence: Varpu S. Marjomäki, University of Jyväskylä, Jyväskylä, 40014, Central Finland, Finland

    Disclaimer: All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article or claim that may be made by its manufacturer is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.