The annual progress meeting for the project “Research and Demonstration on Key Technology of Prevention and Control of African Swine Fever (ASF)” was held in the Cooperative Innovation Center for Sustainable Pig Production at HZAU on Nov. 20th. The project, as one of Hubei Province Technical Innovation Special Major Project, was directed by Jin Meilin, Professor of College of Animal Science and Technology and College of Veterinary Medicine of HZAU.
The attendees of the meeting include Chen Huanchun (academician of CAE), Wang Zaishi (researcher of China Institute of Veterinary Drug Control), Yu Dazhao (researcher of Hubei Academy of Agricultural Sciences) and other experts from Academy of Science and Technology Development as well as College of Animal Science and Technology and College of Veterinary Medicine at HZAU.
Yang Yi (director of Major Projects Division, Academy of Science and Technology Development of HZAU) expressed his gratitude to all the attendees. He said: “The project was the first major project on ASF research in Hubei Province. It was quickly approved and launched after the investigation and analysis conducted by Department of Science and Technology of Hubei province on latest strategies and technologies of ASF prevention and control. To ensure the achievement of the goals, joint efforts are made by seven institutions to promote the project, including HZAU, Hubei Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Wuhan Institute of Virology, CAS, and Hubei Center for Animal Disease Prevention and Control.”
“This is the largest emergency project in Hubei Province. It has been more than two years since its launch in January 2019 and is ready for a closure report. Despite the impact of COVID-19 pandemic, all researchers still stick to tackling difficulties in the front line for ASF research,” Prof. Jin Meilin said. “Though this project is about to complete, the research on ASF prevention and control will never stop. All researchers will commit themselves to it until the vaccine is successfully developed, so as to provide a strong guarantee for combating ASF virus.”
“ASF prevention and control is a long-term work, so we need to further the relevant research despite the completion of this project and continue to pay a close attention to the needs of small and medium-sized pig farmers. Plus, we should promote the research on vaccines and diagnostic kits and find some clinically useful ways to solve the problems facing pig industry,” according to Chen Huanchun.
The progress of each research teams were questioned and discussed by the advisory group at the meeting. They suggested that the teams should firstly speed up the registration and declaration of new drugs for diagnostic preparations, focus on antigen, antibody and differential diagnosis technologies, and apply technologies such as fluorescence immunoassay test strips into manufacturing practices as soon as possible to help enterprises monitor ASF. The advisory group added that the combination of bio-safety and vaccine immunization is an effective measure for ASF prevention and control. All institutes should collaborate to establish a set of prevention and control procedures on the measure in Hubei Province to provide scientific and technological support for effectively controlling and defeating the major epidemic of ASF in Hubei province and all over China.
Source: http://news.hzau.edu.cn/2021/1122/62030.shtml
Translated by: Yang Jian
Supervised by: Jin Bei
