PIG numbers have grown in many African countries in the past decade, but outbreaks of African Swine Fever continue to wipe out large numbers.
The disease can spread rapidly in unexposed populations with the first outbreak in Madagascar in 1998 decimating half of the country's pig population (250,000 animals).
Smaller outbreaks appear periodically in endemic populations, with between 50,000 and 100,000 animals lost to AFS in northern Cameroon last year.
An AusAID-funded project is gathering information on immunity and transmission in wild pigs and warthogs in Kenya and Uganda. The wild animals are believed to transmit the disease to domesticated pigs through ticks.
During the research, large numbers of wild animals are being captured with nets to collect samples of blood. This will also assist in the development of a vaccine for ASF.
International Livestock & Research Institute molecular biologist Richard Bishop said the rapid spread of disease throughout Africa was also a threat on other continents.
He said the disease reached Portugal twice about 50 years ago through the feeding of infected swill to pigs, and it was not until 1995 that it was eradicated through a massive slaughter program.
An outbreak was found in Georgia in 2007 and outbreaks have occurred in other Eastern European countries.
"There is a wider risk than that if it gets into South East and East Asia, this would be very serious for global food security because most of the production, even in China, is still backyard," Mr Bishop said.
ILRI veterinarian and epidemiologist Edward Okoth, who is also working on the project, said pigs had been introduced to Africa by colonials and had become an important source of protein. Pork was cheaper than beef in most African countries.
Pigs also gave farmers a quicker income than sheep and cattle, to pay school and medical fees.
Dr Okoth said the project was part of an international effort to assist in developing disease-control strategies for pig farmers, including stricter on-farm biosecurity.
In very acute cases, there were no symptoms of ASF but it could cause heavy breathing, staggering gait and discolouration of the skin.
The researchers said Australia was doing a great job touching the lives of poor African farmers through funding the project.
Mr Bishop said that it was important in the sense that the whole world was one community these days, and it was "very nice to see a country like Australia concerned enough to use their excess wealth to actually help poor farmers improve their lot in life".
"The way people live in this continent, many people in Australia can't even begin to imagine," he said.
Dr Okoth said that the disease had serious financial implications, particularly for small pig farmers where outbreaks occurred.
"My own experience investigating an outbreak of swine fever in a village where all pigs died, was that we found a number of young kids not going to school because they couldn't afford the school fees."
The project is also receiving science support from CSIRO and the BecA Hub at the International Livestock Research Centre.
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