An ELISA for the detection of antibodies against hog cholera virus (HCV) was developed. The HCV-specific glycoprotein gp53 served as diagnostic antigen after immobilization using a monoclonal capture antibody. Due to the higher affinity of HCV-specific antibodies to the viral gp53, sera cross reacting with bovine viral diarrhea (BVD) virus were discriminated by the slope of the titration curves.