An inter-laboratory trial as a tool to increase  rabies diagnostic capabilities of Sub-Saharan African Veterinary laboratories

by Morgane Gourlaouen, Ang élique Angot, Marzia Mancin, Charles Bebay, Baba Soumaré, Francesca Ellero, Barbara Zecchin, Stefania Leopardi, Cristian De Battisti, Calogero Terregino, Paola De Benedictis To achieve the goal of eliminating dog-mediated human rabies deaths by 2030, many African countries have agreed to list rabies as a priority zoonotic disease and to undertake both short and long-term control programs. Within this context, reliable local diagnosis is essential for the success of fi eld surveillance systems. However, a harmonized, sustainable and supportive diagnostic offer has yet to be achieved in the continent. We herewith describe the organization and outcome of a proficiency test (PT) for the post-mortem diagnosis of rabies in animals, involving thirteen veterinary laborat ories and one public health laboratory in Africa. Participants were invited to assess both the performance of the Direct Fluorescent Antibody (DFA) test and of a conventional RT-PCR. From the submitted results, while thirteen laboratories proved to be able to test the samples through DFA test, eleve n performed the RT-PCR method; ten applied both techniques. Of note, the number of laboratories able to apply rabies RT-PCR had increased from four to ten after the exercise. Importantly, results showed a higher proficiency in applying the molecular test compared to the DFA test (concordance, sensit ivity and specificity: 98.2%, 96.97% and 100% for RT-PCR; 87.69%, 89.23% and 86.15% for DFA te...
Source: PLoS Neglected Tropical Diseases - Category: Tropical Medicine Authors: Source Type: research