3.1 Clinical course

Back‐titration of the virus suspension used for inoculation verified the administered titer of 1 × 105.25 HAU/ml per pig in both trials. All tissue samples from inoculated domestic pigs and wild boar were positive for ASFV genome in qPCR and gross pathology was comparable between trial 1 and 2 (data not shown). All animals developed signs of disease starting 4 dpi. Domestic pigs developed moderate disease but recovered until 10 dpi (maximum clinical score 5), whereas wild boar showed signs of moderate to severe disease until the end of the study (maximum clinical score 10.5) and thus, confirmed higher virulence of ASFV “Estonia2014” in wild boar. Details regarding viral load, histopathology, and analysis by electron microscopy of trial 2 can be found in a parallel publication .
Briefly, macroscopic pathology, ASFV antigen-positive myeloid cells investigated by flow cytometry, and viral loads in the investigated tissues showed comparable results in wild boar and domestic pigs. In contrast, higher levels of ASFV antigen were found in wild boar by immunohistochemistry.