Counter immunoelectrophoresis in the diagnosis and serological surveillance of swine vesicular disease.

A comparison of the counter immunoelectrophoresis (CIEP) test for swine vesicular disease with serum neutralisation and double immunodiffusion is reported here. Two groups of sera were used in the comparison: one group (908 sera) was tested blind by CIEP and the other group (778 sera) comprised field samples from infected and suspect premises submitted routinely for swine vesicular disease confirmation. The CIEP test proved simple to perform and gave results within two hours. It was very economic in the use of reagents and its sensitivity, though less than that of the serum neutralisation test, compared favourably with the sensitivity of the double immunodiffusion test. No false positive results were detected out of the 1686 sera tested.