Ante mortem diagnosis of rabies from body secretion/excretion by TaqMan real time PCR

Abstract

TaqMan real time PCR was employed for ante mortem diagnosis of rabies from 62 biological fluid samples (24 saliva, 17 milk, 21 urine) obtained from 25 animals suspected for rabies. Rabies viral RNA was detected in 12/24 (50%) saliva samples, 4/17 (23.52%) milk samples and 11/21 (52.38%) urine samples. Rabies was detected with highest sensitivity of 78.94% from urine samples, followed by 77.27% from saliva samples. Least sensitivity of 60% was found for detection of rabies from milk samples when tested with TaqMan real time PCR assay. TaqMan real time PCR can be used as an alternative protocol for the routine ante mortem diagnosis of rabies as it is efficient even to detect the rabies quite earlier, while animal has started showing nonspecific signs of rabies. Also, with this technique it was possible to demonstrate the rabies viral RNA in milk samples obtained from rabies suspected animals leading to zoonotic importance of milk in rabies.