[Serologic herd study and sanitation inspection of Sarcoptes scabiei var. suis infection: a seroepidemiologic study in mange-free and chronically-infected facilities].

Sera from 88 pigs chronically infected with Sarcoptes scabiei var.suis were tested in order to evaluate the course of antibody titer with the Chekit Sarcoptest using homogenized Sarcoptes scabiei var.vulpes as antigen. The results were compared with sera of pigs from mange free breeding units. The results of this study show that sera from piglets less than two week old and gilts older than eight months can be used. No positive titers were observed in animals between five weeks and four months of age. In order to avoid false negative results only sera from untreated gilts should be used. The high specificity (99.34%) of the test calculated in a previous study (Zimmermann und Kircher, 1998) is confirmed by these results. Based on the results of the present study testing of colostral samples should be attempted in the future.