Atypical hog cholera infection: viral isolation and clinical study of in utero transmission.

Sows in different stages of pregnancy were inoculated with a low-virulence hog cholera strain. Clinical signs of disease were not observed in the sows during pregnancy, but most of their pigs were splaylegged and had nervous disorders; perinatal mortality was high. A few pigs from sows that were inoculated during the 1st trimester of pregnancy survived and remained inapparent carriers of virus, without developing antibodies. Seemingly, these pigs were immunotolerant. Virus was transmitted from immunotolerant pigs to susceptible pigs by contact 5 weeks after farrowing, but not 3 months after farrowing, despite the persistence of the virus at a high concentration in the blood and in the organs of the immunotolerant pigs.