Biomedical Letters

Surveillance for Probable Detection of Rabies Virus in Wild and Domestic Animals

Farzana Shahin 1, Zafar Qureshi 2, Mahmood ul Hassan 3, Zaheer Hussain 5, Masood Rabbani 1, Khawar Ali Shahzad 1, Saiqa Iqbal Rao 1, Waqas Ahmed 3, Tahir Yaqub 4

1 Diagnostic Laboratory, University of Veterinary and Animal Sciences, Lahore 54000, Pakistan

2 Veterinary Research Institute, Lahore 54000, Pakistan

3 University of Agriculture Faisalabad, Faisalabad 38000, Pakistan

4 Quality Operations Lab, University of Veterinary and Animal Sciences, Lahore 54000, Pakistan

5 School of Biological Sciences, Punjab University, Lahore 54000, Pakistan

Abstract

Rabies (lyssavirus) virus is an avertable viral disease caused by the rabid animals to the warm blooded animals. Presence and prevalence of rabies virus threatens population hygiene since spread cases often knock out in villages and cause substantial losses to human populations. Lyssavirus surveillance in wild animals including bats, dogs, cattle and mules was performed. Twenty Brain samples from the suspected wild animals were processed by means of the fluorescent antibody test (FAT) and mouse inoculation test (MIT). The brain samples were retested through reverse transcriptase polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR). In the study, suspected brain samples of the dogs, cattle and mules were found positive while all the insectivorous bats representing Taphozous nudiventris, Scotophilus heathii, Scotoecus pellidus, Pipistrellus pipistrellus and Scotophilus kohlil species were tested negative by all the three assays.

Keywords: Lyssavirus, Surveillance, Bats, FAT, MIT, RT-PCR.

Received April 29, 2015 Revised May 07, 2015 Accepted May 10, 2015

*Correspondence: Farzana Shahin Email: f.shaheen64@yahoo.com