Comparison of Hair Follicle and Skin for Ante Mortem Detection of Rabies: A Molecular Approach

Abstract

Background : Rabies is an enzootic, fatal disease and early detection of this disease is necessary. Till now a reliable diagnosis is possible only after death of animal. Objectives : So the present study was undertaken to use the molecular approaches like nested RTPCR and SYBR Green real time PCR for early diagnosis of rabies in suspected animals using less invasive non neural tissues like skin biopsy and hair follicles. Method : 12 cases of rabies suspected live animals were presented to the Veterinary Clinics, GADVASU, Ludhiana, India. Results : The sensitivity of nested RT-PCR for hair follicles and skin samples was 50% and 57.1% respectively. A sensitivity of 62.5% and 71.4% was observed with real time PCR in hair follicles and skin samples. Conclusion : We suggest that non-invasive molecular approaches may be used for the early and accurate diagnosis of rabies in animals.