Pathogenicity and virulence of African swine fever virus

African swine fever (ASF) is a devastating disease with a high impact on the pork industry worldwide. ASF virus (ASFV) is a very complex pathogen, the sole member of the family Asfaviridae, which induces a state of immune suppression in the host through infection of myeloid cells and apoptosis of lymphocytes. Moreover, haemorrhages are the other main pathogenic effect of ASFV infection in pigs, related to the infection of endothelial cells, as well as the activation and structural changes of this cell population by proinflammatory cytokine upregulation within bystander monocytes and macrophages. There are still many gaps in the knowledge of the role of proteins produced by the ASFV, which is related to the difficulty in producing a safe and effective vaccine to combat the disease, although few candidates have been approved for use in Southeast Asia in the past couple of years.