Sensitivity Comparison of Nested RT-PCR with Immunofluorescence for Diagnosis of Rabies

In the present study sensitivity of diagnosis of rabies with Nested RT-PCR was compared with Immunofluorescence on 20 brain samples. RNA extraction was done using Qiazol method. Synthesis of cDNA was done using rabies specific primers. Nested set of primers were used to amplify highly conserved 762bp nucleoprotein gene region. Nested RT-PCR was able to diagnose rabies viral RNA in 12 out of 13 Immunofluorescence positive cases. Sensitivity of Nested RT-PCR was found to be 92.31% when compared with Immunofluorescence. Thus, the present study concluded that Nested RT-PCR can be served as an additional tool for confirmatory diagnosis of rabies