3.1 Clinical course
Back‐titration of the virus suspension used for inoculation verified the
administered titer of 1 × 105.25 HAU/ml per pig in
both trials. All tissue samples from inoculated domestic pigs and wild
boar were positive for ASFV genome in qPCR and gross pathology was
comparable between trial 1 and 2 (data not shown). All animals developed
signs of disease starting 4 dpi. Domestic pigs developed moderate
disease but recovered until 10 dpi (maximum clinical score 5), whereas
wild boar showed signs of moderate to severe disease until the end of
the study (maximum clinical score 10.5) and thus, confirmed higher
virulence of ASFV “Estonia2014” in wild boar. Details regarding viral
load, histopathology, and analysis by electron microscopy of trial 2 can
be found in a parallel publication .
Briefly, macroscopic pathology, ASFV antigen-positive myeloid cells
investigated by flow cytometry, and viral loads in the investigated
tissues showed comparable results in wild boar and domestic pigs. In
contrast, higher levels of ASFV antigen were found in wild boar by
immunohistochemistry.