8.7 Surveillance
Early disease detection is the key to maintain a sound animal health and is the most effective way to control ASF (Gervasi et al., 2020). Laboratory diagnosis for detection of ASF as well differentiation of ASF with diseases with similar symptoms such as CSF, Acute salmonellosis, Swine erysipelas, Porcine dermatitis and nephropathy syndrome, and Aujeszky’s disease should be implemented with proven and rapid diagnostic techniques to establish an accurate diagnosis within a short time. Polymerase Chain Reaction (PCR) is currently the most commonly used technique for the etiological diagnosis of ASF by amplifying the fragment of viral DNA present in the sample (Sanchez-Vizcaino, 2010).However, in developing countries like India, laboratories to detect such infectious diseases are often sparely distributed and access may be limited by economic or geographical factors. In such situations, the use of user-friendly kits or pen-side diagnostics (lateral flow assay, biosensors, mobile PCR assay and isothermal assay techniques) (Goswami and Borkataki, 2017) can have great potential to detect the disease in laboratory protocols. For the rapid detection of antigen in the field, the use of economic and simple tools such as immunochromatographic strips are suitable alternate diagnostic device essential for surveillance and control strategies (Cappai et al., 2018).It is also important to note that, veterinarians and livestock producers should be informed of the risk of ASF and the importance of reporting an outbreak by means of training and awareness camps by disease experts and professionals to ensure good field surveillance. Early disease detection, will, therefore, depend on the right balance between field surveillance and laboratory measures of disease detection.