Classical swine fever

Classical swine fever (CSF) or hog cholera (also sometimes called pig plague based on the German word Schweinepest) is a highly contagious disease of pigs and wild boar.

Symptoms
Swine fever causes fever, skin lesions, convulsions and usually (particularly in young animals) death within 15 days.

The symptoms are indistinguishable from those of African swine fever.

Epidemology
The disease is endemic in much of Asia, Central and South America, and parts of Europe and Africa. It was believed to have been eradicated in the United Kingdom by 1966 (according to the Department for Environment, Food & Rural Affairs), but an outbreak occurred in East Anglia in 2000. It was eradicated in the USA by 1978, according to the United States Department of Agriculture. Other regions believed to be free of CSF include Australia, Canada, Ireland, New Zealand and Scandinavia.

Virus
The infectious agent responsible is a virus CSFV (previously called hog cholera virus) of the genus Pestivirus in the family Flaviviridae (or Togaviridae ). CSFV is closely related to the ruminant pestiviruses which cause Bovine Viral Diarrhoea (BVDV) and Border Disease (BDV).

The effect of different CSFV strains varies widely, leading to a wide range of symptoms. Highly virulent strains correlate with acute, obvious disease and high mortality, including neurological symptoms and hemorrhages within the skin.

Less virulent strains can give rise to subacute or chronic infections that may escape detection, while still inducing mortality in fetuses and new-borns.

Infected piglets birthed from infected but subclinical sows help maintain the disease within a population. Other symptoms can include lethargy, fever, immunosuppression and secondary respiratory infections. The incubation period of CSFV ranges from 2 to 14 days but symptoms may not be apparent until after 2 to 4 weeks. Animals with an acute infection can survive 2 to 3 months before their eventual death.

Eradicating CSF is problematic. Current programmes revolve around rapid detection and diagnosis, and preventive culling, possibly followed by emergency vaccination. Possible sources for maintaining and introducing infection include the wide transport of pigs and pork products, as well as endemic CSF within wild boar and feral pig populations.

Diagnosis
epidemiology+symptoms+pathology+laboratory examination


 * Direct immunofluorescence - detection of virus in histological edges
 * Indirect immunofluorescence - detection of specific antibodies from sera
 * ELISA

The Philippine hog cholera outbreak of 2007
On August 20, 2007, Department of Agriculture officers investigated the outbreak of swine flu in Nueva Ecija and Central Luzon, Philippines. The mortality rate is less than 10 % for swine flu, if there are no complications like hog cholera. Earlier, or on July 27, 2007, the Philippine National Meat Inspection Service (NMIS) raised a hog cholera "red alert" warning over Metro Manila and 5 regions of Luzon after the disease spread to backyard pig farms in Bulacan and Pampanga, even if these tested negative for the swine flu virus.