African swine fever (ASF) is a devastating disease of pigs caused by African swine fever virus (ASFV), which is considered to be the No. 1 killer to the global pig industry. Highly virulent strains are usually responsible for the peracute and acute forms that provoke high mortality rates that may reach 100%. Since ASF was first introduced in August 2018 into China, 137 outbreaks in domestic and wild pigs had been reported from 32 provinces by June 06, 2019, causing severe socioeconomic consequences. Efforts to develop an ASFV vaccine began in the 1960s, but all failed, the major reason is the lack of in-depth research on the biological characteristics of ASFV. It will be a great challenge for China to control the spread of current ASF, develop safe and effective vaccines. In this review, we outline the biological characteristics of ASFV, including its morphology and basic structure, transmission routes, pathogenicity, genome and proteins, entry mechanism, immune escape, and analyzed the difficulties in vaccine development. We hope to provide basic information for the control of current ASF and understanding of etiology in China.
非洲猪瘟 (African swine fever，ASF) 是由非洲猪瘟病毒 (African swine fever virus，ASFV) 引起的一种猪烈性传染病，是全球养猪业的“头号杀手”，强毒株引发的超急性和急性感染死率高达100%。2018 年8 月ASF首次传入我国，截止2019 年6 月6 日，已有32 个省份累计暴发137 起疫情，给我国社会、经济构成巨大威胁。ASF 疫苗的研制始于20 世纪60 年代，但均以失败而告终，其主要原因是对ASFV 生物学特性缺乏深入的研究。有效控制当前ASF 疫情扩散、研制安全有效的疫苗将是我国面临的巨大挑战。本文对ASFV 形态与基本结构、传播途径、致病机制、基因组及编码蛋白、入侵机制、免疫逃逸等生物学特性进行了概述，并分析了当前疫苗研制面临的难点，以期为我国有效控制ASF 疫情及病原研究提供参考。.
Keywords: African swine fever; African swine fever virus; biological characteristics; pig industry; vaccine development.