Abstract
Rabies, an acute progressive, fatal encephalomyelitis, transmitted most commonly through the bite of a rabid animal, is responsible for an estimated 61,000 human deaths worldwide. The true disease burden and public health impact due to rabies remain underestimated due to lack of sensitive laboratory diagnostic methods. Rapid diagnosis of rabies can help initiate prompt infection control and public health measures, obviate the need for unnecessary treatment/medical tests, and assist in timely administration of pre- or postexposure prophylactic vaccination to family members and medical staff. Antemortem diagnosis of human rabies provides an impetus for clinicians to attempt experimental therapeutic approaches in some patients, especially after the reported survival of a few cases of human rabies. Traditional methods for antemortem and postmortem rabies diagnosis have several limitations. Recent advances in technology have led to the improvement or development of several diagnostic assays which include methods for rabies viral antigen and antibody detection and assays for viral nucleic acid detection and identification of specific biomarkers. These assays which complement traditional methods have the potential to revolutionize rabies diagnosis in future.
Highlights
One of the oldest and most feared zoonotic diseases known to mankind, is an acute, progressive, and almost fatal encephalomyelitis caused by the Rabies virus (RABV) and other Lyssavirus species of the family Rhabdoviridae
The low level of commitment to rabies control is partly attributable to lack of accurate and extensive surveillance data to indicate the disease burden, frequent misdiagnosis of rabies, and an absence of intersectoral coordination
Traditional methods for antemortem and postmortem rabies diagnosis are fraught with several limitations
Summary
One of the oldest and most feared zoonotic diseases known to mankind, is an acute, progressive, and almost fatal encephalomyelitis caused by the Rabies virus (RABV) and other Lyssavirus species of the family Rhabdoviridae. Australia is free from carnivore rabies, and many Pacific Island nations have always been free from rabies and related viruses In these areas, human deaths from rabies are restricted to people exposed while living or travelling in areas endemic for canine rabies [1, 4]. About one to eight human rabies deaths occur annually in the USA as a result of wildlife rabies and an estimated US$ 300 million are spent per annum for rabies prevention [1, 5]. The Scientific World Journal one of the important reasons why rabies remains a neglected zoonotic disease in many developing countries in Asia and Africa [6, 7]
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