Vol. 11, Special Issue 2 (2022)

Author(s):
Kavitha Govindaiah, Dilip Lakshman, Isloor Shrikrishna, Rathnamma Doddamane, Sharada Ramakrishnaiah, Narayanaswamy H Doddappaiah, Byregowda S Munivenkatappa, Venkatesha M Dasappa Gupta, Gyanendra Gongal, Avinash S Bhat, Hridya S Varughese, Tilak Chandan Shivakumar and Vinay C Prakash Rao

Abstract:
Rabies is an infectious viral disease that is invariably fatal following the onset of clinical symptoms. In India, the incidence of rabies in animals is increasing. Although final laboratory diagnosis using OIE approved techniques such as Direct Fluorescent Antibody (DFA) assay is always necessary, there are several potential benefits to the use of an initial screening test that can be performed at the field level. The recent development of immunochromatographic assays, also referred to as lateral flow assays (LFAs), enables immediate testing with limited equipment, infrastructure and expertise. The present study was aimed to comparatively evaluate Lateral Flow Assay (LFA) with DFA assay for surveillance of rabies in animals by testing the brain samples resourced from different parts of India (Karnataka, Assam, Manipur, Andhra Pradesh, Chhattisgarh and Haryana) to the KVAFSU-CVA Rabies Diagnostic Laboratory, OIE Reference Laboratory for Rabies, Department of Veterinary Microbiology, Veterinary College, KVAFSU, Bengaluru. The samples were subjected to both Lateral Flow Assay (LFA) and DFA for the detection of rabies antigen and viral inclusions respectively. The study revealed that 458/561 dogs, 0/4 cats, 33/43 cattle, 1/2 goats, 3/4 horses and 1/1 pigs were positive by both the tests, in all amounting to 496/615 (80.65%) to be positive for rabies which is alarming and an emerging threat in India. The high occurrence of rabies in the state of Karnataka (71.87%) could be attributed to a greater number of samples from Karnataka. Further, there was a 100 per cent concordance between both the tests. So, the present study supports the application of this LFA as simple test that can be employed at the field conditions as a preliminary rapid screening test and contribute to the epizootiology of rabies in India.