[Diagnosis of transmissible gastroenteritis in swine by the agar gel immunodiffusion test]

A transmissive gastroenteritis antigen was obtained from intestinal content of pigs with symptoms of the disease, the presence of which was demonstrated by the agar gel immunodiffusion test. It was shown that the antigen was rough and lacking in purity, but it proved to be sensitive and specific. In the conditions of agar gel immunodiffusion in the presence of a reconvalescent serum the antigen produced a clearly expressed precipitation line for 24 to 48 hours. A correlation was also found with 17 out of 25 reconvalescent sera of pigs, investigated via virus-neutralization and agar gel immunodiffusion. Four sera were positive through virus-neutralization only, and four--through agar gel immunodiffusion, while the controls were negative. The agar gel immunodiffusion test was useful in the demonstration of both antibodies in reconvalescent sera and virus in the intestinal content of pigs either suffering or died of transmissive gastroenteritis.