Antemortem Diagnosis of Rabies From Skin: Comparison of nested RT-PCR with TaqMan real time PCR

Bansal, KaranSingh, Charan Kamal KRamneek, RamneekSandhu, Bhupinder SinghDeka, DeepakDandale, MangeshSood, Naresh Kumar

Molecular techniques were adopted to diagnose rabies viral RNA from skin biopsy samples collected from 20 animals. Nested RT-PCR and TaqMan real time PCR techniques have successfully diagnosed rabies viral RNA in 9 and 11 skin samples, respectively. The sensitivity of both techniques was calculated in comparison to FAT applied on brain samples. Sensitivity of 76.47% was obtained with nested RT-PCR on skin biopsy samples while Taqman real time PCR revealed sensitivity of 92.85%. It was concluded that TaqMan real time PCR is a useful, specific, sensitive and better molecular approach for antemortem rabies diagnosis from skin samples of rabies suspected animals.(AU)

1. Skin biopsies
2. Diagnosis
3. Rabies virus
4. PCR techniques
5. Lyssavirus