The use of composting for the disposal of African swine fever virus-infected swine carcasses.

African swine fever (ASF) has been considered as one of the most important and devastating swine diseases with high mortality rates. Since effective vaccines and treatment are not available, mass euthanasia of infected and exposed pigs has been known to be the best measure to control ASF. Although composting has been proved to be a safe method for the rapid disposal of animal carcasses during outbreaks, there is no information about the effect of composting on the viability of ASF virus in swine carcasses. This study investigates the survival of the ASF virus in swine carcasses during composting. The findings suggested that the DNA of the ASF virus was detected in all samples tested. On the contrary, infectious ASF virus particles were rapidly destroyed at day 3.