Comparação de períodos de observação no teste de inoculação em camundongos para o isolamento do vírus da raiva

Abstract

Mouse inoculation test (MIT) is routinely used in rabies diagnosis to attest the direct fluorescent antibody test (DFA), however there is no agreement on the minimum observation period. The aim of this study was to evaluate MIT with confirmation by DFA, comparing the diagnostic performance between seven and 21 days held in suckling and weaned mice. For this, 2,953 samples received for rabies diagnosis in the period of 2005- 2011 by Secretaria Municipal de Saude da Prefeitura da Cidade do Rio de Janeiro were analyzed. Statistical analysis showed high diagnostic sensitivity (97.43%; 95.45%; 100%), and excellent agreement (99.76%; 99.29%; 98.71%) when comparing the results obtained in DFA with the results obtained from suckling mice observed along seven and 21 days and weaned mice respectively. These results infer that MIT performed in seven days using suckling mice enables early diagnosis of rabies, which can anticipate the decisions of health services involved with human prophylactic treatment services, as well as the epidemiological monitoring of rabies.