Demonstration of parvovirus in Canadian swine and antigenic relationships with isolates from other countries

A Canadian isolate of porcine parvovirus, isolated from cultured pig thyroid cells, was shown to be antigenically indistinguishable from a British (59e/63) and a German (G10/1) strain when treated by the modified direct complement-fixation, the hemagglutination-inhibition and the fluorescent antibody tests. These tests also revealed that antibodies to parvoviruses were detectable in a large proportion of the conventionally raised pigs in the provinces of Quebec and Ontario. Cell cultures, prepared from tissues collected in a slaughterhouse, were often found to be infected with parvovirus. In cell cultures the infection was demonstrated more effectively by immunofluorescence than by the hemagglutination test.