Date Received: 05-10-2024 / Date Accepted: 17-01-2025 / Date Published: 23-01-2025
African swine fever (ASF) is a dangerous infectious disease with a mortality rate of up to 100%. Collecting saliva samples for diagnosis to monitor ASF has many advantages, but the low viral load in saliva samples, it affects the sensitivity of diagnostic methods. This study improved the saliva sample processing to increase the sensitivity of the diagnosis method. Semi-alkaline proteinase (SAP) and Polyethylene glycol (PEG) were used to process saliva samples. The optimal volume ratio of SAP and PEG solutions to saliva samples was 1:3 and 1:0.4, respectively. The results of ASFV diagnosis from saliva samples after processing with SAP and PEG showed increased sensitivity of real-time PCR reaction. Of 12 field samples, 7/12 samples gave positive results after processing with SAP and PEG compared to only 4/12 positive samples when not processed with SAP and PEG. Thus, applying the saliva sample processing increased the sensitivity of the real-time PCR method in ASF diagnosis, promising to be a useful support tool for ASF surveillance.