ORIGINAL RESEARCH article
Front. Cell. Infect. Microbiol.
Sec. Veterinary and Zoonotic Infection
Volume 15 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fcimb.2025.1710337
This article is part of the Research TopicEmerging and re-emerging animal viruses: Advances in diagnosis, pathogenesis and control strategiesView all 6 articles
First report of acute African swine fever in pig farms of west-coast India: Pathological and molecular insights
Provisionally accepted
Shirish Dadarao Narnaware*
Susitha RajkumarPrasastha VemulaSanjaykumar Vithalrao Udharwar
Amiya Ranjan Sahu- Animal & Fisheries Science Section, ICAR-Central Coastal Agricultural Research Institute, Goa, India
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Background: African swine fever (ASF) represents one of the most devastating viral threats to global pig production, with mortality often approaching 100% and profound socio-economic consequences. India confirmed its first ASF outbreaks in 2020 in the north-eastern states, but no cases had previously been documented from the west-coast. This study reports the first confirmed ASF outbreaks in pig farms on the west-coast of India, providing clinicopathological and molecular insights. Materials: Between January and June 2025, two pig farms in North Goa experienced unusually high mortalities. The affected pigs were clinically examined, and necropsies were performed on eight carcasses for detailed pathological examination. Tissue samples (spleen, kidneys, lungs, liver, and lymph nodes) and blood were collected for histopathology and PCR diagnosis. African swine fever virus (ASFV) detection was performed using PCR targeting the B646L gene encoding the major capsid protein p72 for molecular confirmation. For genotyping, the partial B646L (p72) gene and the complete E183L (p54) gene were amplified, sequenced, and subjected to phylogenetic analysis. Results: Both farms exhibited extremely high mortality (95–96%) with clinical signs of fever, depression, cyanosis, respiratory distress, and widespread cutaneous hemorrhages. Gross pathology revealed splenomegaly, hepatomegaly, severely congested kidneys with petechial hemorrhages, hemorrhagic lymphadenopathy, and vascular congestion. Histopathology showed severe lymphoid depletion, necrosis, and hemorrhages in the spleen and lymph nodes, and glomerulonephritis in kidneys. ASFV was confirmed by PCR in all samples. Phylogenetic analysis placed the isolates in genotype II, showing complete identity with earlier Indian and Asian strains, indicating continued circulation of this lineage in the region. Conclusion: The emergence of ASF in Goa highlights the spread of genotype II into India's west-coast, underscoring the urgent need to strengthen farm biosecurity, enhance farmer awareness, and implement active surveillance to protect the growing pig sector from severe economic losses.
Keywords: African Swine Fever, India, Pathology, phylogenetic analysis, p72, P54
Received: 22 Sep 2025; Accepted: 13 Oct 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Narnaware, Rajkumar, Vemula, Udharwar and Sahu. 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: Shirish Dadarao Narnaware, drshirish009@gmail.com
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