Rabies virus in different segments of brain and spinal cord of naturally and experimentally infected dogs.

In order to determine the presence of rabies virus in different segments of Central nervous system (CNS) of rabid animals, 31 naturally infected dogs and 6 experimentally injected ones by masseter inoculation were studied by means of Fluorescent Antibody (FA) technique and mouse intracerebral inoculation (MI) test. In the naturally infected group, the positivity by FA technique was 100.0% for the segments of Ammon's horn, cerebellum, bulb and for cervical, lumbar and sacral cord and 96.7%; for thoracic cord. Mouse inoculation test of corresponding materials was 100.0% positive for Ammon's horn, cerebellum, bulb and lumbar cord; 96.7% for cervical cord; and 93.5% for sacral cord. All examined segments of experimentally infected animals were 100.0% positive for both FA and MI tests. No clear-cut relationship could be found between the site of virus inoculation and the presence of the virus in the spinal cord. The results presented in this paper corroborate previous suggestions for the use of the spinal cord as one of the alternative laboratory diagnostic specimens for the canine rabies diagnosis.