A serological survey of encephalomyocarditis virus infection in pigs in Japan.

A total of 1502 pig sera collected between 1990 and 1991 at 65 farms in 22 prefectures were subjected to neutralization test to encephalomyocarditis (EMC) virus. Of them, three hundred eighty seven pigs (25.8%) from the 55 farms (84.6%) had antibody against EMC virus. The positive rates were rather high in Ehime (53.1%), Tottori (49.1%), Shimane (44.4%) and Nagasaki (38.7%). The positive rate and geometric mean titer of antibody tended to increase with the age. These serological results suggest that the EMC viral infection have been occurred among pigs in Japan.