Rotavirus associated diarrhoea in nursing piglets and detection of antibody against rotavirus in colostrum, milk and serum.

A blocking method of ELISA for the detection and quantification of antibody against porcine rotavirus in serum, colostrum and milk has been compared with a plaque reduction test. The results obtained with the two techniques correlated (Fig. 1). Antibody against rotavirus was demonstrated in 384 serum samples representing 25 swine farms, indicating a widely spread and dense distribution of the infection with porcine rotavirus among Danish swine. The antibody contents in milk samples from 7 gilts and sows from 2 farms with a previously diagnosed problem with rotavirus associated diarrhoe showed a rapid decline during the first few days of the lactation periods (Fig. 1). An increase in the contents of rotavirus specific antibody was observed from day 15 in the milk samples from one of the gilts. The excretion of rotavirus with feces from the 7 litters of piglets were followed through the suckling period. Rotavirus war found in all litters but one and the virus was excreted in periods ranging from 4 to 9 days.