Molecular diagnosis and epidemiology of rabies

Abstract

Rabies virus diagnostic and typing methods differ among which virus populations can be detected and segregated. Lyssavirus genera may differ so greatly that serological testing alone may be sufficient to differentiate between them. Unique monoclonal antibody patterns among rabies viruses have also been used effectively for many of the terrestrial animal reservoirs for rabies in the USA. However, genetic typing, especially nucleotide sequence analysis, allows the most precise method to distinguish virus type and permits the greatest utility in molecular epidemiology studies.