Aravindhbabu R P, Manoharan S, Ramadass P, Chandran N D J
Department of Animal Biotechnology, Madras Veterinary College, Chennai, India ; Research Scientist, Institute for Animal Health, Pirbright Laboratory, Ash Road, Pirbright, GU240ND United Kingdom.
Indian J Virol. 2011 Dec;22(2):138-41. doi: 10.1007/s13337-011-0050-3. Epub 2011 Sep 13.
Rabies is a highly fatal non-suppurative encephalomyelitis, caused by the Rabies virus. Dogs are the major reservoir of rabies in India and are the source of infection to other domestic animals. In this report, laboratory investigation and molecular characterization of isolates from two cows with paralytic rabies is described. Necropsy brain samples from the two cows were tested for the presence of rabies antigen using a fluorescent antibody test and the results were confirmed using RT-PCR. Rabies virus was successfully isolated from both the brain samples in a murine neuroblastoma cell line. The phylogenetic analysis of partial nucleoprotein gene sequences of these isolates showed them to be of a variant of Rabies virus which is closely related to the Sri Lankan Rabies virus lineage as previously reported. In addition, partial nucleoprotein genes of 19 more Rabies virus isolates from southern India were sequenced and of these 11 isolates were found to be closely related to the Sri Lankan lineage. The deduced amino acid sequences of the partial nucleoprotein of the Indian isolates were 96-99% identical to the Sri Lankan isolates. This investigation re-confirms the previous speculations that the Sri Lankan variant of the virus may still be actively transmitted by animals in India.
狂犬病是一种由狂犬病毒引起的高度致命的非化脓性脑脊髓炎。在印度，狗是狂犬病的主要宿主，也是其他家畜的感染源。在本报告中，描述了对两例患麻痹型狂犬病奶牛的病毒分离株进行的实验室调查和分子特征分析。使用荧光抗体试验对这两头奶牛尸检的脑样本进行狂犬病抗原检测，并通过逆转录聚合酶链反应（RT-PCR）确认结果。在鼠神经母细胞瘤细胞系中成功从两份脑样本中分离出狂犬病毒。对这些分离株的部分核蛋白基因序列进行系统发育分析，结果表明它们是狂犬病毒的一个变种，与先前报道的斯里兰卡狂犬病毒谱系密切相关。此外，对来自印度南部的另外19株狂犬病毒分离株的部分核蛋白基因进行了测序，其中11株与斯里兰卡谱系密切相关。印度分离株部分核蛋白的推导氨基酸序列与斯里兰卡分离株的同源性为96%-99%。这项调查再次证实了先前的推测，即该病毒的斯里兰卡变种可能仍在印度通过动物进行活跃传播。
