Will CRISPR Offer Hope For Controlling African Swine Fever? (cornell.edu) 26
"New vaccine trials hold great promise in the management of an East African strain of African swine fever, one of the most devastating diseases to afflict pigs," writes Cornell's Alliance for Science (a group who gives its mission as correcting misinformation and countering conspiracy theories slowing progress on issues including synthetic biology and agricultural innovations).
Slashdot reader wooloohoo shares their report: Scientists at the International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI) are employing CRISPR Cas9 editing and synthetic biology to modify the ASFV genome in order to attenuate the virus for a live vaccine to help reduce deaths from African swine fever. Up to 10 vaccine candidates have been lined up for tests, in a project that commenced in 2016...
African swine fever is present in 26 African countries, Steinaa observed, as well as in parts of Asia and Europe. An effective vaccine could be a breakthrough for pig farmers across the globe... With a 100 percent fatality rate and a highly contagious nature, African swine fever poses a potent threat to the global pig farming industry. The rapid spread of the disease portends social and economic disruptions wherever it strikes.
Slashdot reader wooloohoo shares their report: Scientists at the International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI) are employing CRISPR Cas9 editing and synthetic biology to modify the ASFV genome in order to attenuate the virus for a live vaccine to help reduce deaths from African swine fever. Up to 10 vaccine candidates have been lined up for tests, in a project that commenced in 2016...
African swine fever is present in 26 African countries, Steinaa observed, as well as in parts of Asia and Europe. An effective vaccine could be a breakthrough for pig farmers across the globe... With a 100 percent fatality rate and a highly contagious nature, African swine fever poses a potent threat to the global pig farming industry. The rapid spread of the disease portends social and economic disruptions wherever it strikes.
Hop,skip, and a jump. (Score:2)
Any potential crossover to human?
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No. Been around for over a century and has only ever infected porcines. Stop the fear mongering with no basis in fact.
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Yes, eventually, just give evolution enough time. Humans can already spread it and just like CJD has occasionally made the jump to humans and some countries are potentially working on weaponizing it (such as some recent reports is the case with variants of COVID), it's a matter of time.
Weaponized CJD? Won't that be about the slowest weapon ever!
Re: Hop,skip, and a jump. (Score:1)
I was talking about weaponizing COVID, which China reportedly is/was working on.
But unlike coughs and fevers, CJD is not reversible and prions are indestructible so it is the ultimate weapon. What if you could accelerate its progression? There is plenty of chatter in recent years amongst bioweapons researchers about Russia doing it. Synthetic prions are actually available on the open market and with CRISPR-like tools, itâ(TM)s a matter of funding, goals and time.
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Evolution is the solution. Selectively create a African swine fever virus that does not kill. Could take some time, could take some genetic engineering, makes most of them only slightly ill, spread fast and so give them all a minor cold, and when they fight that off, they are now resistant to the more lethal version. Keep in mind the really weak one would never evolve, unless you selectively forced it but once out in the wild and you continue to spread it, the more dangerous one will be outcompeted because,
the life of a farmed pig (Score:1)
How many of these outbreaks are due to overcrowded, awful living conditions ?
I would suspect a lot of them. I mean if you are NOT raising your pigs in horrible conditions, and you practice safe protocols, don't visit other pig farms, don't bring in pigs from a suspect source, how exactly are your pigs going to be infected ? (I guess it's possible it's transmitted by insects in tropical climates).
Anyhoo, soon they will not have to worry about keeping pigs in over crowded, awful conditions.
The short,miserabl
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How many of these outbreaks are due to overcrowded, awful living conditions ?
I would suspect a lot of them. I mean if you are NOT raising your pigs in horrible conditions, and you practice safe protocols, don't visit other pig farms, don't bring in pigs from a suspect source, how exactly are your pigs going to be infected ? (I guess it's possible it's transmitted by insects in tropical climates).
Anyhoo, soon they will not have to worry about keeping pigs in over crowded, awful conditions.
The short,miserable life of a farmed pig is about to get worse (if that's possible).
They tried having the pigs wear masks, but they considered it unpatriotic and that the virus was a hoax.
Re: the life of a farmed pig (Score:2)
So, social distancing for pigs.
Maybe even masks n sanitizer ?
So IOW (Score:2)
They are saving our bacon.
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So have we come full circle here on stupid, liberal cancel culture? I mean, they're calling this African Swine Fever but it's been less than a year since the media went full-out, bat-shit crazy about calling the virus from Wuhan the China Virus. Are we finally leaving the twilight zone and re-entering reality now?
Are you joking, or did you really not know?
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Funny, the intelligence community says it was Russian and Iranian propaganda [dni.gov] we were being shown, and China opted to stay the hell out of it.
How much do you get paid to spread this bullshit, comrade?
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That's some nice hand-waving and conjecture. A lot of sound and fury, signifying nothing. If there are reports that are as credible as the one I linked, then link them here. Otherwise you're just being a useful tool of spreaders of propaganda.
That's not the only vaccine in the works. (Score:2)
This is not the only vaccine in the works.
The second Russian vaccine (Respivak) is actually a vet team - you can see their patents, they are all on veterinary vaccines. They were working on a Swine Fever vaccine using the same tech (recombinant protein only) before the "all hands on deck" COVID event. They are now back to vet work and working again on Swine fever. One of the Chinese teams which produced one of their recombinant vaccines (still in Stage 2 AFAIK) was also working on Swine Fever. As they are
Why do they get to call it AFRICAN (Score:1)
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Swine Flu? Isn't that "racist". Remember when they started calling Covid-19
the China Flu, Hong Kong Flu, Wuhan Flu
We no longer name human diseases after people or places so as not to stigmatise.
You can call that "PC" if you like, but it makes sense, and does not apply retrospectively to old disease names.
Spanish Flu is still Spanish Flu, even though it more likely originated in Kansas or China.
The only reason for retrospectively re-naming a disease is if it comes out as trans-gender, which is rare.
"Correcting misinformation"? Are you serious?? (Score:1)
They are a libertarian lobbyist think thank, that points to any actual scientist criticizing them playing with that tech despite not having a clue what the consequences will be and not giving a flying fuck either, ... to then go "OMG conspiracy theorist!!".
Because that makes many people just switch their brains off, and accept everything that they say.
And just so they can justify their existence, they do it to actual conspiracy theorists too, that nobody would even take seriously or know about, without the