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PRINT ISSN : 2319-7692
Online ISSN : 2319-7706 Issues : 12 per year Publisher : Excellent Publishers Email : editorijcmas@gmail.com / submit@ijcmas.com Editor-in-chief: Dr.M.Prakash Index Copernicus ICV 2018: 95.39 NAAS RATING 2020: 5.38 |
Rabies is a highly fatal viral infection of central nervous system affecting all warm blooded animals including humans. The virus belongs to the Rhabdoviridae family, genus Lyssa virus. Several techniques have been standardized internationally for the diagnosis of rabies. This study was designed to assess the efficacy of Seller's staining test (SST) and Direct Fluorescent Antibody Test (dFAT) for diagnosis of rabies antigen, Mouse Innoculation Test (MIT) and real time reverse transcriptase polymerase chain reaction (qRT-PCR) were used as the Gold Standards. Antibodies against the N Nucleoprotein were used for the dFAT, whereas the nucleoprotein gene was targeted in the qRT-PCR assay. A total of 10 rabies suspected dog brain samples received at the Department of Microbiology at Bombay Veterinary College, Mumbai, were tested by Seller's staining test (SST), Direct Fluorescent Antibody Test (dFAT) and Mouse Innoculation Test (MIT) as per the protocol described by WHO (2007). Out of 10 brain specimens Negri bodies were observed in 05 (50%) brain samples by SST. dFAT tested positive for 06 (60%) samples, rabies virus was isolated in 07 samples by intra-cerebral inoculation in Swiss-albino mice and 07 (70%) samples positive for rabies using qRT-PCR. Compared to the qRT-PCR, the sensitivities of SST and dFAT were 71.42 % and 85.71%, respectively. It was concluded that qRT-PCR is a more sensitive and better molecular approach for diagnosis of rabies from brain of rabid suspected cases as compare to SST and dFAT.