[Serological differentiation of Ascaris suum and Toxocara canis infections in pigs (author's transl)].

Groups of eight miniature pigs were infected either with 1,500 embryonated eggs each of Ascaris suum or Toxocara canis or with 1,000 eggs each of both nematodes. Sera were sampled before the infection as well as three and six weeks postinfection and then investigated in the ELISA on microtitre plates against antigens of various developmental stages. When extracts of adult Ascaris and Toxocara worms were used as antigens, distinct reactions were registered both in the infected and in the uninfected control groups. Antigens isolated from either embryonated eggs or larvae of both worms produced distinctly positive reactions with sera of the infected animals, including those pigs with heterologous infections but not with sera from uninfected controls. After saturation with heterologous antigens, the sera showed distinct antibody reactions against homologous antigen extracts and in this way infections with the two nematode species could be serologically differentiated.