Antemortem diagnosis of rabies from skin: comparison of nested RT-PCR with TaqMan real time PCR

Bansal, KaranKamal K Singh, CharanVerma, RamneekSingh Sandhu, BhupinderDeka, DeepakDandale, MangeshKumar Sood, Naresh

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.

1. Lyssavirus
2. diagnosis
3. skin biopsies
4. rabies virus
5. PCR techniques.