Efficient inactivation of African swine fever virus by ozonized water

African swine fever virus (ASFV) is the causative agent of African swine fever (ASF), which is a devastating disease of domestic pigs and wild boar, causing significant economic losses to the pig industry worldwide. To evaluate the ability of ozonized water as a disinfectant to inactivate ASFV, ozonized water of different concentrations was tested, and the viral reduction was determined by infectivity assay on porcine primary alveolar macrophages. The results showed that 2 log10 (99 %) reduction in viral titer was observed when 10^4.0 TCID₅₀/mL wild-type or reporter ASFV was inactivated with ozonized water as lower as 5 mg/L within 1 min at room temperature; while a viral reduction of approximately 2 log10 (99 %) was observed when 10^5.0 TCID₅₀/mL wild-type or reporter ASFV was inactivated with 5 mg/L ozonized water within 1 min, and 3 log10 (99.9 %) virus was inactivated by 10 or 20 mg/L ozonized water within 3 or 1 min, respectively; furthermore, 5 mg/L ozonized water inactivated 2 log10 (99 %) reporter ASFV as higher as 10^6.75 TCID₅₀/mL in 1 min, and a viral reduction of approximately 3 log10 (99.9 %) in reporter ASFV or 2 log10 (99 %) in wild-type virus was observed when inactivated with 10 mg/L ozonized water in 1 min; meanwhile, a viral reduction of 3 log10 (99.9 %) was observed when 20 mg/L ozonized water was applied to the wild-type ASFV of 10^6.75 TCID₅₀/mL in 3 min. Overall, ozonized water can rapidly and efficiently inactivate ASFV, representing an effective disinfectant for ASF control.