Diagnostics and Detection of African Swine Fever Virus - Volume II

African swine fever (ASF) is a highly transmissible and often fatal disease affecting domestic and wild suids, with profound consequences for global pork production and food security. Since its expansion beyond Africa in 2007, ASF has established endemicity across large areas of Europe and Asia, with sustained transmission cycles involving wild boar populations. The re-emergence of ASF in the Caribbean (Dominican Republic and Haiti) has further intensified concerns regarding potential introduction into ASF-free regions, underscoring the need for enhanced preparedness and surveillance capacity.Within Europe, the persistence of ASFV in wildlife reservoirs continues to complicate eradication efforts, including regions of the Iberian Peninsula where ecological and production factors may influence risk dynamics. These evolving epidemiological patterns highlight the necessity for diagnostic strategies that are both robust and adaptable to diverse field conditions.In the absence of widely available commercial vaccines or effective therapeutic options, diagnostic tools represent a central component of ASF prevention, control, and eradication efforts. Rapid and reliable detection is essential for early outbreak recognition, implementation of containment measures, and differentiation from clinically similar transboundary diseases.A variety of diagnostic approaches are currently available, including virus isolation, antigen and antibody detection assays, and nucleic acid–based methods such as real-time PCR and isothermal amplification. Nevertheless, key challenges remain, including:- Variable performance across different stages of infection.- Limited validation across diverse biological and environmental sample types.- Constraints associated with field deployment, cost, and turnaround time.- Preanalytical limitations related to sample collection, transport, and cold-chain dependency.Recent advances in molecular detection, biosensor development, and host-response profiling, combined with increasing emphasis on decentralized testing and integrated surveillance systems, offer new opportunities to address these limitations.This Research Topic aims to bring together contributions that advance diagnostic innovation and its application within practical surveillance and disease control efforts, with emphasis on both diagnostic performance and real-world implementation.Scope of the Research Topic includes, but is not limited to:- Development and validation of novel diagnostic platforms.-Comparative evaluation of diagnostic methods, including analytical and diagnostic performance across infection stages and sample types.- Diagnostic performance across different phases of infection, including subclinical and survivor animals.- Detection of ASFV in alternative and field-relevant samples.- Integration of diagnostics into surveillance systems, including risk-based, participatory, and wildlife approaches.- Host biomarkers and early infection indicators to complement pathogen detection.- Advances in molecular epidemiology and genomic surveillance relevant to diagnostics.-Optimization of virus isolation, culture systems, and antigen production for assay development.- Field-related diagnostic challenges, including sample quality, transport, and cold-chain limitations.- Approaches enabling decentralized and pen-side testing.Data integration linking diagnostics with surveillance systems and epidemiological models. Topic editors: Luis G Gimenez-Lirola, Jeff J Zimmerman Source: https://www.frontiersin.org/research-topics/79849/diagnostics-and-detection-of-african-swine-fever-virus---volume-ii