Evaluation of an enzyme immunoassay for detection of antibodies to pseudorabies virus in porcine field sera.

The performance of an indirect enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay and the standard serum neutralization test for detection of antibodies to pseudorabies virus in porcine field sera were compared, using 304 sera from pseudorabies-free pigs in Canada, and 1082 and 580 swine sera from the USA and England, respectively. The sensitivity and specificity of the ELISA relative to the serum neutralization test were in the order of 97 to 98%, with the higher agreement between the tests when a 1:40 dilution of serum samples was used for the ELISA. The indirect ELISA was considered to be a rapid and convenient procedure, offering many advantages over the serum neutralization test for routine serodiagnostic use.