The neutralizing peroxidase-linked assay for detection of antibody against swine fever virus

The neutralizing peroxidase-linked antibody (NPLA) assay was standardized and compared with the micro-plaque reduction test (PRT) on series of sera from pigs infected with different strains of swine fever virus (SFV) and bovine virus diarrhoea virus (BVDV), swine fever reference sera and field sera. The NPLA system was found to be as sensitive as the PRT, it detected SFV antibody in 17 out of 18 pigs 3 weeks after intranasal exposure and differentiated between antibody against SFV and BVDV. With varying concentrations of SFV parallel lines of neutralization with a slope of about 120° were obtained with sera of different origin. The regression coefficient of approximately −1.74 implies that a 10-fold increase in the virus dose will result in an approximate 3.8-fold decrease in the serum titre. The NPLA assay has a high capacity and has been found to be a great asset in large scale surveys for detection of neutralizing antibody against SFV.