Molecular epidemiological analysis of wild animal rabies isolates from India

Vet World Vol.12 March-2019 Article-1

Research Article

Veterinary World, 12(3): 352-357

https://doi.org/10.14202/vetworld.2019.352-357

Gundallhalli Bayyappa Manjunatha Reddy¹, Rajendra Singh², Karam Pal Singh², Anil Kumar Sharma², Sobharani Vineetha², Mani Saminathan², and Basavaraj Sajjanar²

1. Department of Veterinary Pathology, ICAR-National Institute of Veterinary Epidemiology and Disease Informatics, Bengaluru, Karnataka, India.
2. Department of Veterinary Pathology, ICAR-Indian Veterinary Research Institute, Bareilly, Uttar Pradesh, India.

Background and Aim: This study was conducted to know the genetic variability of rabies viruses (RVs) from wild animals in India.

Materials and Methods: A total of 20 rabies suspected brain samples of wild animals from different states of India were included in the study. The samples were subjected for direct fluorescent antibody test (dFAT), reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR), and quantitative reverse transcriptase real-time PCR (RT-qPCR). The phylogenetic analysis of partial nucleoprotein gene sequences was performed.

Results: Of 20 samples, 11, 10, and 12 cases were found positive by dFAT, RT-PCR, and RT-qPCR, respectively. Phylogenetic analysis showed that all Indian wild RVs isolates belonged to classical genotype 1 of Lyssavirus and were closely related to Arctic/Arctic-like single cluster indicating the possibility of a spillover of rabies among different species.

Conclusion: The results indicated the circulation of similar RVs in sylvatic and urban cycles in India. However, understanding the role of wild animals as reservoir host needs to be studied in India. Keywords: India, nucleoprotein gene, phylogenetic analysis, rabies virus, wild animals.

Keywords: India, nucleoprotein gene, phylogenetic analysis, rabies virus, wild animals.

How to cite this article: Reddy GBM, Singh R, Singh KP, Sharma AK, Vineetha S, Saminathan M, Sajjanar B (2019) Molecular epidemiological analysis of wild animal rabies isolates from India, Veterinary World, 12(3): 352-357.

Received: 27-10-2018 Accepted: 18-01-2019 Published online: 04-03-2019

Corresponding author: Gundallhalli Bayyappa Manjunatha Reddy E-mail: gbmpatho@gmail.com

DOI: 10.14202/vetworld.2019.352-357

Copyright: Reddy GBM, et al. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons license, and indicate if changes were made. The Creative Commons Public Domain Dedication waiver (http:// creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/) applies to the data made available in this article, unless otherwise stated.