[Diagnosis of trichinellosis in living pigs using indirect ELISA]

A modified E/S-ELISA based on the procedure described by Gamble et al. (1988) was used for the diagnosis of trichinellosis in the domestic pig. The results of screening the sera of 92 pigs experimentally infected with Trichinella larvae (T. spiralis, T. nativa) with different doses, confirmed that the E/S-ELISA is suitable for the serological detection of Trichinella-specific IgG. Although the serotest shows a high sensitivity especially in the case of a low infection rate, it can not be used as an alternative for traditional meat inspection methods because of its so called diagnostic window. On the other hand, this serotest is considered to be useful for herd monitoring. False-negative results prior to completed seroconversion (the diagnostic window) were in most cases encountered up to the 4th-5th week post infection (p.i.), depending on the infectious dose used. Due to the prolonged persistence of antibodies, it was possible to demonstrate Trichinella infections by serology for a relatively long period (at least 80 weeks p.i.). Predictably, all 960 swine sera from the field tested in the E/S ELISA were negative for Trichinella. Separation and staining of the E/S antigen in SDS-PAGE revealed altogether 4 major protein bands with molecular weights of 44-67 kD. The 44 kD band showed the most intense reaction in an immunoblot using Trichinella antibodies. In contrast to the E/S-antigen, in the immunoblot using the same defined sera, the protein bands of somatic antigen caused cross reactions with non specific antibodies, which would lead to false-positive results in the ELISA.