Detection of rabies viral RNA by TaqMan real-time RT-PCR using non-neural specimens from dogs infected with rabies virus.

To determine the burden of rabies in developing countries, a reliable and accurate diagnostic test for the examination of the brains of animals is needed. Recently, the number of samples and carcasses submitted to rabies diagnostic units has been declining. Methods for obtaining tissues from different regions of the brain are even more difficult, and direct florescent antibody examination may fail if the samples decomposed.

Comparative detection of rabies RNA by NASBA, real-time PCR and conventional PCR.

Five methods for the RNA detection of rabies virus were directly compared in this study. These included conventional nucleic acid sequence-based amplification with electrochemiluminescence (NASBA-ECL) assay, reverse transcription (RT)-heminested (hn) polymerase chain reaction (PCR) and TaqMan real-time RT-PCR using protocols as described previously. The first two methods have been routinely utilised for ante-mortem diagnosis of human rabies in Thailand and other rabies-endemic Asian and African countries.

A longitudinal study of the prevalence of Nipah virus in Pteropus lylei bats in Thailand: evidence for seasonal preference in disease transmission.

After 12 serial Nipah virus outbreaks in humans since 1998, it has been noted that all except the initial event in Malaysia occurred during the first 5 months of the year. Increasingly higher morbidity and mortality have been observed in subsequent outbreaks in India and Bangladesh. This may have been related to different virus strains and transmission capability from bat to human without the need for an amplifying host and direct human-to-human transmission.