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Rabies virus-neutralising antibodies in healthy, unvaccinated individuals: What do they mean for rabies epidemiology?
- Source :
- PLoS Neglected Tropical Diseases, Vol 14, Iss 2, p e0007933 (2020), PLoS Neglected Tropical Diseases
- Publication Year :
- 2020
- Publisher :
- Public Library of Science (PLoS), 2020.
-
Abstract
- Rabies has been a widely feared disease for thousands of years, with records of rabid dogs as early as ancient Egyptian and Mesopotamian texts. The reputation of rabies as being inevitably fatal, together with its ability to affect all mammalian species, contributes to the fear surrounding this disease. However, the widely held view that exposure to the rabies virus is always fatal has been repeatedly challenged. Although survival following clinical infection in humans has only been recorded on a handful of occasions, a number of studies have reported detection of rabies-specific antibodies in the sera of humans, domestic animals, and wildlife that are apparently healthy and unvaccinated. These ‘seropositive’ individuals provide possible evidence of exposure to the rabies virus that has not led to fatal disease. However, the variability in methods of detecting these antibodies and the difficulties of interpreting serology tests have contributed to an unclear picture of their importance. In this review, we consider the evidence for rabies-specific antibodies in healthy, unvaccinated individuals as indicators of nonlethal rabies exposure and the potential implications of this for rabies epidemiology. Our findings indicate that whilst there is substantial evidence that nonlethal rabies exposure does occur, serology studies that do not use appropriate controls and cutoffs are unlikely to provide an accurate estimate of the true prevalence of nonlethal rabies exposure.
- Subjects :
- 0301 basic medicine
RNA viruses
Viral Diseases
Physiology
RC955-962
Disease
Review
Wildlife
medicine.disease_cause
Antibodies, Viral
Pathology and Laboratory Medicine
Biochemistry
Serology
0302 clinical medicine
Zoonoses
Immune Physiology
Arctic medicine. Tropical medicine
Epidemiology
Medicine and Health Sciences
Enzyme-Linked Immunoassays
Immune System Proteins
biology
Pets and Companion Animals
Vaccination
Eukaryota
3. Good health
Infectious Diseases
Medical Microbiology
Viral Pathogens
Viruses
Fatal disease
Antibody
Pathogens
Public aspects of medicine
RA1-1270
Neglected Tropical Diseases
medicine.medical_specialty
Rabies
Animal Types
030231 tropical medicine
Immunology
Research and Analysis Methods
Microbiology
Antibodies
03 medical and health sciences
Rabies Virus
medicine
Animals
Humans
Domestic Animals
Immunoassays
Microbial Pathogens
Biology and life sciences
business.industry
Rabies virus
Public Health, Environmental and Occupational Health
Organisms
Proteins
medicine.disease
Tropical Diseases
Virology
Antibodies, Neutralizing
030104 developmental biology
Rabies Vaccines
biology.protein
Immunologic Techniques
Lyssavirus
business
Zoology
Subjects
Details
- Language :
- English
- ISSN :
- 19352735 and 19352727
- Volume :
- 14
- Issue :
- 2
- Database :
- OpenAIRE
- Journal :
- PLoS Neglected Tropical Diseases
- Accession number :
- edsair.doi.dedup.....78a5fb09540e76b184efcbc4c756a60a