Detection of Classical Swine Fever Virus Antigen and Nucleic Acid on Blood of Experimentally Infected Piglets

Abstract

| Classical swine fever (CSF) is an economically important contagious viral disease, responsible for high mortality in young swine population. Classical swine fever virus (CSFV), the causative agent of CSF, belongs to genus Pestivirus under family Flaviviridae. Early detection of virus /genome is important for employing the disease containment measures. In present study, kinetics of antigen in experimentally infected piglets was determined by antigen ELISA and RT-PCR. Out of 12 sero-negative piglets, six were infected with virulent CSFV by intramuscular route, while other six were kept as control group. Piglets were regularly observed on the days post infection (dpi) for development of clinical manifestations of infection. Blood samples were collected on 0, 3, 6, 9, 12, 15, 18 and 21 dpi or till animal succumb of disease. Samples were screened by commercially available antigen ELISA and RT-PCR, for detection of viral proteins and nucleic acid to confirm the disease, prior to onset of clinical signs. Typical symptoms of disease were observed in the infected piglets on 10-12 dpi. Presence of CSFV antigen in blood sample from day's 6 th to7 th post infection and viral nucleic acid on 6 th and 9 th dpi were confirmed by antigen ELISA and RT-PCR respectively. It was concluded by the present study that CSFV antigen can be detected even before the appearance of clinical signs. Such early detection can be used for field samples to test their repeatability and to prove as tools to control the spread of disease and to minimize economic losses.

Meta-analysis of classical swine fever prevalence in pigs in India: A 5-year study

“…Some workers used RT-PCR for the screening of samples for the detection of virus presence which is more sensitive than that of ELISA. These diagnostic methods were compared for their routine screening of CSF infections and were shown to have good compliance with each other [ 31 ], so the testing method was unlikely to be a significant source of heterogeneity in this analysis. Quality scores for the included study ranged from 5 to 8 which indicate relevancy of article with the study.…”