3. VIRUS CLASSIFICATION
African Swine Fever is caused by African Swine Fever virus (ASFV) belonging to family Asfarviridae and the only DNA arbovirus (arthropod borne) known so far (Alonso et al., 2018). ASFV is an enveloped virus with icosahedral morphology and an average diameter of 200 nm (Galindo and Alonso, 2017). ASFV genome consists of a linear double-stranded DNA molecule of 170-193 kbp depending on the isolate with terminal inverted repeats and hairpin loops (Dixon et al., 2013). To date, 24 distinct genotypes of ASFV have been described based on C-terminal (major structural protein) p72  gene sequencing (Bastos et al., 2003). The virus primarily infects cells of the mononuclear phagocytic system (monocytes and macrophages) and replicates in the cytoplasm (Chapman et al., 2008). Soft ticks of the genusOrnithodoros serve as biological vectors of ASFV (OIE, 2019a). All age groups from the members of the family Suidae are susceptible to ASFV infection (Mulumba‐Mfumu et al., 2019).