Systematic Veterinary Virology

Laboratory Diagnosis - Direct detection of virus antigen in tissue materials

DIRECT DETECTION OF VIRUS ANTIGEN IN TISSUE MATERIALS

• The ideal clinical materials for rabies virus identification are brain, salivary gland and saliva. In the brain, rabies virus is particularly abundant in the thalamus, pons and medulla.
• Histological identification of characteristic lesions: Demonstration of Negri bodies by Sellers method (for unfixed sections) or Mann’s method (for fixed sections).
• Fluorescent antibody test: This is the most widely used test for rabies diagnosis and is recommended by both WHO and OIE.
• Immunoperoxidase test
• ELISA: Referred as rapid rabies enzyme immunodiagnosis test (RREID)
• PCR and DNA sequencing
• DNA probe
• Electron microscopy
• Monoclonal antibody based typing