An immunological approach to vaccines against African swine fever virus

Until recently there were no published reports of any immunological mechanism which could curtail the replication of African swine fever virus (ASFV). We have now described three such mechanisms--complement dependent lysis, antibody dependent cellular cytotoxicity and cytotoxic T lymphocytes. This paper discusses the likely role which each might play during ASFV infection and indicates where this research might help with a disease where no effective vaccine is available.