Enzyme immuno assay based seromonitoring and detection of canine rabies antigen

Abstract

In the present study an attempt was made to measure the serum neutralizing antibodies against rabies virus in the sera of both vaccinated and unvaccinated dogs, employing ELISA. A long with this special emphasis was given to compare the results of diagnostic techniques used for yaJ.i.es namely Seller's staining and IP test. Four hundred and thirty-four sera samples from dogs of different age groups were screened. Enzyme immuno assay of sera of 83 unvaccinated pups revealed that under the age group of 0-3 months 59.1 percent antibody titre of 1: 50 or above indicating the presence of maternal antibodies. Out of 116 sera samples from primarly vaccinated group only eight had antibody titre below 1:50. Among the booster vaccinated 94 sera samples tested only four samples showed antibody titre below 1:50 .. The assay revealed that during diseases the immune systems of the dogs will be suppressed. It was found that the age of first vaccination could be decided as third month. The present study revealed that primary vaccination might not produces higher antibody titres in dogs. The study showed advantages of booster vaccination over primary vaccination.

All the rabies suspected cases were subjected as two diagnostic tests namely Seller's staining and IPT. Out of 20 rabies suspected cases, there were detected by demonstration of Negri bodies and four were by IPT. The present study showed plate ELISA is a sensitive method for titration of rabies virus neutralizing antibodies and IPT can be successfully used for the detection of rabies antigen in impression smears taken from hippocampus.