Hemagglutination by the hog cholera virus

Abstract

The successful diagnosis of hog cholera in the laboratory has been hampered by the fact that small laboratory animals cannot be used satisfactorily. In this work an attempt has been made to determine whether the hog cholera virus would agglutinate red blood cells and to determine optimal conditions for the reaction. Results of comparative tests in the ability of normal and infected pig tissues to cause hemagglutination are given. The virus of hog cholera will cause agglutination of red cells, but the method is not in a practical stage at present for the routine diagnosis of hog cholera. One of the hinderances found is the variations in the agglutination of the cells from different sources, even within the same species. Serum samples failed to cause hemagglutination-inhibition in the presence of the virus. The hemagglutination or the hemagglutination-inhibition tests are not practical in their present condition, but the results show these procedures may prove to be a rapid and reliable method for the diagnosis of hog cholera after further study. This would simplify the rather difficult task of differentiating hog cholera from clinically similar diseases of swine.