Sero-surveillance of notifiable diseases in wild boar in the Netherlands

During the hunting season 1996-1999, blood samples were colected from wild boar shot in The Netherlands. Sera were screened for presence of anti-bodie s against classical swine fever virus (CSFV), swine vesicular disease virus (SVDV), Aujeszky's disease virus (ADV), and Trichinella spiralis. The resu lts indicate that CSFV, SVDV, and ADV are uncommon in the wild boar populat ion. Therefore, it seems that CSFV,SVDV, and ADV infection in the wild boar population is not an important reservoir in The Netherlands. ADV and CSFV infections are endemic in the wild boar population in Germany. Since contac t between the German and Dutch wild boar populations can not be excluded, c ontamination of the sero-surveillance system seems appropriate. In the deca de before 1998, the wild boar population in The Netherlands seemed to be fr ee of T.spiralis. Whether the finding, in the hunting season of 1998-1999, of a few wild boar with antibodies against T.spiralis is an artefact or not , should be investigated in further research.