Recent Advances in the Diagnosis of Classical Swine Fever and Future Perspectives

Classical swine fever (CSF) is a highly contagious viral disease of pigs, including wild boar. It is regarded as one of the major problems in the pig industry as it is still endemic in many regions of the world and has the potential to cause devastating epidemics, particularly in countries free of the disease. Rapid and reliable diagnosis is of utmost importance in the control of CSF. Since clinical presentations of CSF are highly variable and may be confused with other viral diseases in pigs, laboratory diagnosis is indispensable for an unambiguous diagnosis. On an international level, well-established diagnostic tests of CSF such as virus isolation, fluorescent antibody test (FAT), antigen capture antibody enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA), reverse-transcription polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR), virus neutralization test (VNT), and antibody ELISA have been described in detail in the OIE Terrestrial Manual. However, improved CSF diagnostic methods or alternatives based on modern technologies have been developed in recent years. This review thus presents recent advances in the diagnosis of CSF and future perspectives.