Functional antibody responses in pigs vaccinated with live and inactivated Aujeszky's disease virus

Functional antibody tests, including virus neutralising activity of serum, antibody dependent cellular cytotoxicity and complement mediated lysis, were used to measure the response of pigs given either live or inactivated Aujeszky's disease virus vaccines. Pigs were then challenged with virulent Aujeszky's disease virus and antibody responses were analysed and found not to correlate with protection. Reasons for this lack of correlation are discussed and it is suggested that these results indicate that more emphasis should be placed on measuring the local immune response.