Detection of rabies virus by nested PCR and spread of virus to peripheral tissues in mice.

A nested PCR has been successfully developed to detect rabies virus. It could detect a volume of 3 TCID 50 of rabies virus and gave a positive result of 0.8 pg of RNA. The positive results were only from rabies virus strains CVS, HEP flury, RC HL, ERA, 1088, Komatsugawa by two pairs of primers, while the rabies related virus strains Lagos bat, Duvenhage, Mokola and other virus strains VSV, rotavirus and CDV showed negative. In the detection of growth of rabies virus in mice brain, Nested PCR provided a positive result in the first two days after inoculation, however IFA and PCR showed negative. Nested PCR could also identify RNA of rabies virus in liver, heart, lung, spleen of mice 5 days after inoculation.