Rapid on-site detection of African swine fever virus using polymerase chain reaction with a lateral flow strip

Abstract African swine fever (ASF) is a highly contagious disease caused by African swine fever virus (ASFV) in domestic pigs and wild boars, which results in huge economic losses to the pig industry. Because of its extremely infectious capacity, there is an urgent need to establish a convenient and low-cost diagnostic method for rapid and on-site detection of the virus to timely implement the control measures. In this study, a polymerase chain reaction (PCR) in combination with lateral flow strip (LFS), targeting the major structural protein p72 gene, was established for rapid detection of ASFV. The PCR-LFS assay displayed no cross-reactivity to other swine viruses. The sensitivity of this assay was 15 copies/reaction of ASFV plasmid template. In clinical diagnoses of 300 plasmid-spiked samples, the detection rate of the diagnosis of ASFV by PCR-LFS assay, OIE-validated real-time PCR assay, and commercial kit reached 36.33% (109/300), 26.67% (80/300) and 37.33% (112/300) respectively. The coincidence rate of PCR-LFS assay and OIE-validated real-time PCR assay was 89.67% (269/300), with a kappa value of 0.763 (p