Preprint Article Version 1 Preserved in Portico This version is not peer-reviewed

Artificial insemination as alternative transmission route for African Swine Fever Virus

Virginia Friedrichs
ORCID logo ,
Darwin Reicks
,
Tobias Hasenfuss
,
Elisabeth Gerstenkorn
,
Jeffrey J. Zimmerman
ORCID logo ,
Eric A. Nelson
,
Tessa Carrau
,
Paul Deutschmann
ORCID logo ,
Julia Sehl-Ewert
,
Hanna Roszyk
,
Martin Beer
,
Jane Christopher-Hennings
* ,
Sandra Blome
* ORCID logo
Version 1 : Received: 21 November 2022 / Approved: 22 November 2022 / Online: 22 November 2022 (09:13:27 CET)

A peer-reviewed article of this Preprint also exists.

Friedrichs, V.; Reicks, D.; Hasenfuß, T.; Gerstenkorn, E.; Zimmerman, J.J.; Nelson, E.A.; Carrau, T.; Deutschmann, P.; Sehl-Ewert, J.; Roszyk, H.; Beer, M.; Christopher-Hennings, J.; Blome, S. Artificial Insemination as an Alternative Transmission Route for African Swine Fever Virus. Pathogens 2022, 11, 1539. Friedrichs, V.; Reicks, D.; Hasenfuß, T.; Gerstenkorn, E.; Zimmerman, J.J.; Nelson, E.A.; Carrau, T.; Deutschmann, P.; Sehl-Ewert, J.; Roszyk, H.; Beer, M.; Christopher-Hennings, J.; Blome, S. Artificial Insemination as an Alternative Transmission Route for African Swine Fever Virus. Pathogens 2022, 11, 1539.

Abstract

Rapid spread of African swine fever virus (ASFV), causing severe disease with often high fatality rates in Eurasian suids, prevails as a threat for pig populations and dependent industries world-wide. Although advancing scientific progress continually enhances our understanding of ASFV pathogenesis, alternative transmission routes for ASFV have yet to be assessed. Here, we demonstrate that ASFV can efficiently be transferred from infected boars to naïve recipient gilts through artificial insemination (AI). In modern pig production, semen from boar studs often supplies many sow herds. Thus, the infection of a boar stud presents the risk of rapidly and widely distributing ASFV within or between countries. Daily blood and semen collection from four boars after intramuscular inoculation with ASFV strain ‘Estonia 2014’ resulted in detection of ASFV genomes in the semen as early as 2 dpi, in blood at 1 dpi while semen quality remained largely unaffected. Ultimately, after insemination with extended semen, 7 of 14 gilts were ASFV positive by 7 days post insemination, and all gilts were ASFV positive by 35 days post insemi-nation. Twelve out of 13 gilts aborted at the onset of fever. A proportion of fetuses originating from the remaining gilt showed both abnormalities and replication of ASFV in fetal tissues. Thus, we present evidence for the efficient transmission of ASFV to gilts via AI and also to im-planted embryos. These results underline the critical role that boar semen could play in ASFV transmission.

Keywords

African swine fever virus; early virus detection; artificial insemination; pathogenesis; transmission; boar semen; vertical transmission

Subject

Biology and Life Sciences, Virology

Copyright: This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

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