A serological survey of the prevalence of Aujeszky's disease antibodies in Thailand using enzyme-linked immunosorbent assays (ELISA), serum neutralization (SN) and latexagglutination tests (LT)

Abstract

The presence of Aujeszky’s disease (AD) antibodies in eluates of whole blood on filter paper and corresponding sera from Thai pigs was determined by ELISA, SNT and LT. From a total of 800 samples tested by ELISA, 26 % of the sera and 18 % of the eluates showed positive results. From 640 samples tested by SNT and chosen because they gave negative, suspicious, or weakly positive results by ELISA, 22 % were positive. A total of 182 suspicious samples were also tested by LT, and among them 63 (35 %) were clearly positive. The investigation demonstrated that the older the animal, the greater the probability that antibodies would be found. Owner surveys tended to state that few animals had been vaccinated. This coupled with the high frequency of antibodies detected, indicates that AD-infection among Thailand’s swine population is a common problem.