A quantitative indirect ELISA to monitor the effectiveness of rabies vaccination in domestic and wild carnivores

Abstract

This paper reports a new ELISA to measure the level of rabies anti-glycoprotein G antibodies after vaccination. The Platelia Rabies II kit was evaluated on different populations of dogs, cats and foxes. For each target species, sera from naive, unvaccinated and vaccinated animals were tested. Platelia Rabies II results were compared to the reference fluorescent antibody virus neutralisation test (for dogs and cats) and to a published in house ELISA test (for foxes). The Platelia Rabies II test was found to be highly specific whatever the species (more than 98%) using a cut-off value of 0.5 EU/ml. The index of sensitivity was between 92.4% and 94.5% for fox samples, and reached 83% for domestic carnivores. Data collected by testing field samples revealed that the rate of false negative results ranged between 8.9% and 11.1% and the rate of false positive results ranged between 1% and 2% for the dog/cat population. Therefore, the Platelia Rabies II test described here would be a good candidate for routine detection of rabies antibodies not only in domestic carnivores (within the framework of international trade) but also in foxes for the follow up of rabies oral vaccination programs.