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According to a study by a major Chinese government laboratory, common plants such as cabbage, cauliflower and rapeseed could help prevent the spread of the African swine fever virus that threatens pork production in the world. .
Researchers at the National Marine Science and Technology Pilot Laboratory in Qingdao, Shandong Province (East), said an anonymous molecule could deactivate an important enzyme used by the African swine fever virus to collect its DNA .
"Adding vegetables to food can help save a hog farm from the outbreak," said Wang Xin, a scientist involved in the research project.
But a Chinese agriculture official has warned that the results of the research could be difficult to put into practice.
China says fight against African swine fever "complex and difficult"
The virus, for which there is no vaccine or treatment yet, was born in Africa more than a century ago and has spread to Europe, South America and Asia.
It does not affect humans, but infected pigs usually die within 10 days of the disease.
In Russia, more than one million pigs have been killed in the last decade by the disease, which is spread through contact with infected animals, ingesting meat from infected animals or tick bites. infected.
China has about 700 million pigs, or half of the world's swine population, and reported its first home in Shenyang, Liaoning Province, last month, prompting the authorities to order the slaughter of tens of thousands of people. pigs.
On Friday, China reported nearly 20 outbreaks of the disease in eight provinces, with new cases every week.
Authorities have attempted to contain the virus by banning the transport of live hogs and pork products from 16 provinces and regions, closing live markets and banning the use of animal feed derived from pork blood.
But China is still struggling to stem the spread, the official Xinhua news agency reported on Friday.
In a study published online in mid-September, the Shandong Lab said an epidemic in Central Asia highlighted a potential prevention strategy.
Wang said many hog farms had suffered heavy losses during the outbreak, but a few in the infected areas were not affected.
China strengthens ban on transport to stem the spread of African swine fever
He said that the unhurt operations had all fed their rapeseeds.
Wang refused to say where the farms were because they were located in a "sensitive area".
"We received and verified the information through reliable channels," he said.
According to Wang's team study, more than 70 species of plants, sea creatures and fungi contain the molecule that could contain the disease. They include the purse of the vegetable shepherd; sea slug and penicillium, the fungus used to produce penicillin.
"We suggest farmers consider feeding their pigs with these vegetables," Wang said. "It will not hurt."
The lab is working with other government agencies to develop a drug or vaccine against African swine fever, but that could take time.
An official of the Animal Industry Industrialization Center of the Beijing Ministry of Agriculture said the results were preliminary.
"It will be difficult to put [the scientists’ suggestions] in practice, "said the official.
He said that many farmers rely on mass-produced feed while the vegetables containing the molecule are grown for human consumption and therefore more expensive.
The daily addition of a small amount of fresh vegetables to animals would be a considerable burden for farmers.
"I suggest farms wait until a drug or vaccine is available," said the official.
China slaughters 38,000 pigs to stop the spread of swine fever
Professor Liu Yule, director of the Plant and Plant Genetic Microorganisms Laboratory at Tsinghua University in Beijing, said it was possible that some chemicals found in a plant might affect viral activities but up to a few days ago. at present, it was essentially a paper theory.
Liu said the mechanism of this biological process was very complex, that some observed phenomena were difficult to explain and that much research was needed to determine an effective dose.
Some previous studies have suggested that plant molecules can alter DNA.
Honeysuckle microRNA, for example, can effectively suppress the influenza virus in the human respiratory system.
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