Development and validation of an assay to detect porcine reproductive and respiratory syndrome virus-specific neutralizing antibody titers in pig oral fluid samples.

Porcine reproductive and respiratory syndrome virus (PRRSV)-specific neutralizing antibodies (NA) are important for clearing the virus. Pen-based pig oral fluid samples for disease surveillance are gaining in importance due to the ease of collection and low cost. The aim of this study was to develop a PRRSV-specific NA assay to determine NA titers in pig oral fluid samples. At first, we standardized the PRRSV NA assay using pen-based pig oral fluid samples collected over a period of 3 months from a herd of swine that received a PRRSV modified live vaccine (PRRS-MLV), and we also used oral fluid and serum samples collected from individual boars that were vaccinated with PRRS-MLV or infected with a virulent PRRSV strain. Our results suggest that a PRRSV NA titer of >8 in oral fluid samples is virus specific and can be detected beginning at 28 days after vaccination or infection. To validate the assay, we used 104 pen-based pig oral fluid and five representative serum samples from each pen of unknown history, as well as 100 serum samples from repeatedly vaccinated sows and oral fluid samples of their respective litters belonging to four different swine-breeding farms. Our results demonstrated that PRRSV NA titers in oral fluid samples are correlated with serum sample titers, and maternally derived PRRSV-specific NA titers could be detected in litters at the time of weaning. In conclusion, we have standardized and validated the pig oral fluid-based PRRSV NA assay, which has 94.3% specificity and 90.5% repeatability. The assay can be used to monitor herd immunity against PRRSV in vaccinated and infected herds of swine.