Seroprevalence of Classical Swine Fever in pigs of Karnataka and comparative diagnostic evaluation of antigen ELISA and reverse transcriptase -PCR

Abstract

Classical swine fever is highly contagious viral disease of swine causing huge economic losses to pig farmers and pig industry. The study was conducted in Karnataka to understand the current scenario of CSF in the state and to evaluate efficiency of diagnostic tests (antigen ELISA and RT-PCR) in detecting the disease. Serum samples were collected from 270 pigs from 13 districts of the state and were tested for the presence of CSF antibodies. Whole blood samples (151) from 14 outbreaks of CSF were collected for the comparative diagnosis of the disease using Antigen ELISA and reverse transcriptase (RT)-PCR. A seroprevalence of 28.5% (77/270) was found in the serum samples collected form the whole Karnataka. The southern Karnataka had higher seroprevalence (47%) in comparison to northern Karnataka region where seroprevalence was 17%. It confirms endemicity of the disease in southern region. Of 151 blood samples collected for comparative diagnosis, 61 samples were positive for CSF by RT-PCR and 39 by antigen ELISA, indicating the superiority of RT-PCR over antigen ELISA to detect CSFV infection in earliest stages of infection.

Keywords

• Antigen
• Antibody
• Classical swine fever
• ELISA
• Karnataka
• RT-PCR