[Detection of Trichinella spiralis infection in spontaneously infected pigs intended for slaughter using the enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) (author's transl)].

In a study of seventy-seven pigs intended for saughter, from two farms on which Trichinella infections had previously been detected by trichinoscopy, the sensitivity of the enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) was compared with that of two direct (trichinoscopy and digestion) and three indirect (serological) methods of detection (fluorescent antibody technique, counter-electrophoresis and Ouchterlony's agar gel diffusion method). In five out of seventy-seven pigs, the digestion procedure revealed the presence of larvae of Trichinella spiralis in the diaphragm. Four of these pigs showed a very high degree of infection, whereas one showed a very low degree of infection. Infection was shown to be present in all five infected pigs using the ELISA method, whereas the findings were only positive in the four severely infected pigs when trichinoscopy, the fluorescent antibody technique, counter-electrophoresis and Ouchterlony's method were used. The ELISA was sufficiently sensitive to detect Trichinella infection even in those pigs which showed a low degree of infection.