National Fellow Laboratory, Department of Microbiology, College of Veterinary Science, Assam Agricultural University, Khanapara, Guwahati-781022, Assam.
Abstracts of the papers presented at the 16th Annual Convention and International Symposium of Indian Virological Society on “Management of Vector-Borne Viruses” at International Crops Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics (ICRISAT), Patancheru-502324, Hyderabad, India, February 7–10, 2006.
Four hundred tissue samples of various types collected from 285 pigs slaughtered for human consumption at different places of Assam during April to September 2005 were examined for the presence of Classical swine fever virus (CSFV) antigen by sandwich ELISA. None of the pigs from which the samples were collected has any history of vaccination against the disease. Polyclonal sera raised against the lapinized swine fever vaccine (IVRI) virus strain in rabbits and pigs were used as trapping and tracing sera in the ELISA test, respectively. The viral antigen could be detected in 87 of the samples from 71(24.91%) of pigs from which the samples were collected. The highest number of kidney (40) followed by spleen (31) samples was found positive for the viral antigen. The other samples from which the viral antigen detected were mesenteric lymph node (10), tonsil (4) and intestinal pieces (2). Presence of the viral antigen in the tissues of slaughtered pigs suggested that pigs in the disease condition are slaughtered and sold for human consumption possibly because of the poor economic condition of the pig rearers.
