Comparison of four diagnostic methods for detecting rabies viruses circulating in Korea.
- Author:
Dong Kun YANG
1
;
Eun Kyung SHIN
;
Yoon I OH
;
Kyung Woo LEE
;
Chung San LEE
;
Seo Young KIM
;
Jeong A LEE
;
Jae Young SONG
Author Information
- Publication Type:Original Article ; Comparative Study ; Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't
- Keywords: immunodiagnostic assay; rabies; RT-PCR; virus isolation
- MeSH: Animals; Antigens, Viral/blood; Brain/virology; Fluorescent Antibody Technique, Indirect/*veterinary; Immunoassay/*veterinary; RNA, Viral/genetics/isolation & purification; Rabies/diagnosis/*veterinary/virology; Rabies virus/genetics/*isolation & purification; Republic of Korea; Reverse Transcriptase Polymerase Chain Reaction/*veterinary; Sensitivity and Specificity
- From:Journal of Veterinary Science 2012;13(1):43-48
- CountryRepublic of Korea
- Language:English
- Abstract: It is essential to rapidly and precisely diagnose rabies. In this study, we evaluated four diagnostic methods, indirect fluorescent antibody test (FAT), virus isolation (VI), reverse transcriptase polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR), and rapid immunodiagnostic assay (RIDA), to detect rabies in animal brain homogenates. Out of the 110 animal brain samples tested, 20 (18.2%) were positive for rabies according to the FAT. Compared to the FAT, the sensitivities of VI, RT-PCR, and RIDA were 100, 100, and 95%, respectively. The specificities of VI, RT-PCR and RIDA were found to be 100, 100, and 98.9%, respectively. Rabies viruses circulating in Korea were isolated and propagated in murine neuroblastoma (NG108-15) cells with titers ranging from 101.5 to 104.5 TCID50/mL. Although the RIDA findings did not completely coincide with results obtained from FAT, VI, and RT-PCR, RIDA appears to be a fast and reliable assay that can be used to analyze brain samples. In summary, the results from our study showed that VI, RT-PCR, and RIDA can be used as supplementary diagnostic tools for detecting rabies viruses in both laboratory and field settings.
