Assessment of international inter-laboratory comparison tests for the diagnosis of classical swine fever from 1998 until 2007.

The inter-laboratory comparison tests for classical swine fever (CSF) laboratory diagnosis organised by the European Community Reference Laboratory for CSF are regularly performed within European Union Member States. The objective of this study was to evaluate the results of the inter-laboratory comparison tests carried out over the last decade, from 1998 until 2007, by using a statistical approach. A set of five or six lyophilised sera was sent to participants.

Virulence of classical swine fever virus isolates from Europe and other areas during 1996 until 2007.

Classical Swine Fever (CSF) has caused several outbreaks in EU Member States with grave economic consequences. Several times the diagnosis of CSF was made too late partially due to non-specific clinical signs which did not raise suspicion for CSF. Virulence of CSF virus isolates (CSFV) still remains a subject of discussion and speculation as sufficient knowledge is still not available.

Quality management in reference tests for the diagnosis of classical swine fever.

Inter-laboratory comparison tests for the diagnosis of classical swine fever (CSF) have been established by the national swine fever laboratories of European Union (EU) Member States. They provide a method of measuring both the quality of the results of diagnostic tests performed by laboratories and the competence with which they were performed. The objective is that all laboratories obtain the same result when investigating the same sample.

Marker vaccines and companion diagnostic tests for classical swine fever.

For Classical Swine Fever (CSF) a subunit vaccine consisting of the E2 protein is commercially available. The discriminatory ELISAs detect antibodies against another viral protein, the E(rns). As CSF has already been eradicated from many countries the use of a marker vaccine in these regions can only be contemplated as emergency vaccination after a new introduction of virus.

Molecular epidemiology of classical swine fever in the Russian Federation.

The ability to discriminate between various classical swine fever virus (CSFV) strains and isolates is a prerequisite for following the spread of the virus after an outbreak. To determine the relatedness between Russian CSFV isolates from different geographical regions, three fragments of the viral genome (5' NTR, the variable region of the E2 gene and a fragment of the NS5B gene) were sequenced and used for genetic typing. Thirty-one field isolates were obtained from CSF outbreaks which occurred between 1994 and 1999.