boars affected by asfv show weakness , difficulty walking , dragging of the hind legs , dysentery , and sudden death . the first report of dead boars came from 2 villages ( oshdibin and namngah ) in the jolfa area and then from other cities such as ahar , sarab , maragheh , and marand . the disease spread to the city of khoie , located in another province ( west azarbaijan ) . postmortem histopathologic investigations of tissue samples of 3 dead , female , wild boars found characteristic signs of asf , such as disseminated intravascular coagulation with multiple hemorrhages ( figure ) . b ) severe hyperemia and petechial and larger ecchymotic hemorrhages in mucosa of urinary bladder . these hemorrhages are common in acute infectious fever and hemorrhagic diathesis . c ) blood - tinged colon contents with fecal balls covered by thick , blood - stained mucus . d ) congestion and fibrinous thromboses in pulmonary vessels and thickening of alveoli ( hematoxylin and eosin stain ; original magnification 100 ) . e ) fibrinous thrombus in a venule within interlobular adipose tissue of the thyroid gland ( hematoxylin and eosin stain ; original magnification 200 ) . f ) blood vessel congestion , perivascular hemorrhage , lymphocytic perivascular cuffing , and infiltration with degenerating lymphocytes ( hematoxylin and eosin stain ; original magnification 200 ) . viral dna from 6 tissue samples ( kidney , liver , lung , large intestine , heart , and spleen ) from the 3 dead boars was extracted by using the jetquick tissue dna spin kit ( genomed gmbh , lohne , germany ) according to the manufacturer s instructions . asfv was detected by pcr and sybr green real - time pcr on a rotor - gene 65h0 ( corbett life sciences , sydney , new south wales , australia ) in all samples from each boar ; primers used were p72 d , u ( major capsid protein ) , and ppa1,2 ( in the viral protein 73 coding region of the genome ) ( 6,9 ) . melting curve analysis showed that an elevated temperature of 86.7c could generate a specific peak in this curve . the sequences of the pcr products derived by using ppa primer pairs were analyzed by using blast ( www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/blast/blast.cgi ) and showed 100% similarity to submitted sequences of georgia isolates . a partial sequence of the isolates from iran has been submitted to genbank under accession no . to confirm a specific pathogen and trace the possible sources of infection , genetic characterization of the virus strain associated with disease is crucial ( 1,2 ) . real - time pcr and pcr are the most practical ways to differentiate infectious agents that cause similar clinical signs ( 5,6,9 ) . the 100% similarity between our isolates and those from georgia suggests that they might have originated from georgia , probably brought into iran by infected wild boars crossing the aras river during the disease incubation period . the main obstacles to asf eradication are wildlife reservoirs , limited ability to control movement of infected pigs and wild boars , inadequate laboratory support for rapid and accurate diagnosis , and lack of an effective vaccine ( 4 ) . although in our study ticks were not detected on the boar carcasses , they should be considered as potential transmission vectors . o. lahorensis ticks are found in areas with a cold climate and are mainly found near sheep and cows , so they are not likely to be isolated from an animal . in the absence of ornithodoros spp . ticks , transmission to pigs could occur through contact with infected pigs or through feeding of virus - contaminated products ( 7,8 ) . chechnya , and southern russian federation , the pig industry is not as large as it is in georgia and armenia ( 7 ) . in these countries with limited or no pig farms , the virus could be spread by infected wild boars , and the disease could become endemic as it has in spain and sardinia ( 3,7,8,1012 ) . because iran has no commercial pig facilities , the asfv reservoir would be wild boars , which could transmit disease to neighboring countries that have pig industries , resulting in considerable economic losses .
in 2008 , african swine fever was introduced into georgia , after which it spread to neighboring armenia , azerbaijan , and the russian federation . that same year , 
 pcr and sequence analysis identified african swine fever virus in samples from 3 dead female wild boars in northwestern iran . 
 wild boars may serve as a reservoir .