A survey for swine vesicular disease antibody in pigs in Northern Ireland

One thousand pig sera from Northern Ireland were tested using the radial immuno-diffusion (RID) test for antibody to swine vesicular disease (SVD) virus. Sera showing precipitation in RID were further tested by scrum neutralisation (SN) and double immuno-diffusion (DID) tests. The results of the RID test showed low levels of antibody present. However, SN and DID tests did not prove the specificity of this antibody. It was concluded that the low levels of antibody detected by the RID tests were not caused by subclinical levels of SVD in the pig population in Northern Ireland.