Ante-mortem Detection of Rabies from Saliva, Skin and Hair Follicles

Rabies is an infectious zoonotic disease, which is fatal once symptoms appear. Thus, early detection of this dreaded disease is of paramount importance. So, the present study was undertaken to apply two molecular approaches viz. nested RT-PCR and SYBR Green real time PCR for ante-mortem detection of rabies from non neural, non-invasive samples like saliva, skin and hair follicles. A total of 12 rabies suspected live animals were presented over a time of eight months to Veterinary Clinics, GADVASU, Ludhiana India. Out of 12 cases, rabies viral RNA could be detected in 36.3% (4/11), 33.3% (4/12) and 25% (3/12) skin biopsy, hair follicle and saliva samples respectively. By real time PCR, viral RNA could be detected in 45.5% (5/11) skin biopsy samples, 41.6% (5/12) hair follicle samples and 41.6% (5/12) saliva samples. The results were in full concordance with the immunofluorescence results of brain tissues of these animals after death. Therefore, sensitivity of 57.1%, 50% and 37.5% was obtained with nested RT-PCR on skin biopsy, hair follicles and saliva samples respectively. A sensitivity of 71.4%, 62.5% and 62.5% was observed with real time PCR on skin biopsy, hair follicles and saliva samples respectively. Thus, real time PCR is more sensitive than nested RT-PCR for ante-mortem detection of rabies.