Molecular Detection of Rabies Virus by PCR: A Comparative Study of Saliva Sampling and Skin Biopsy

Rabies virus is a neurotropic lyssavirus transmitted by the saliva of an infected animal after either biting, scratching or licking injured skin or mucous membranes. Rabies is endemic in Ivory Coast with around twenty deaths every year. With the aim of improving the knowledge and data on rabies viruses, we propose to carry out a comparative study of saliva sampling and skin biopsy samples by molecular detection by PCR at the Virus and Epidemic Department (DVE) of the Pasteur Institute of Ivory Coast, Adiopodoume site. This idea arose from the question of knowing whether saliva sampling is equivalent to the skin biopsy for the molecular or biological diagnosis of rabies? For the present study, all relevant data were extracted from the rabies database and imported into Microsoft Excel in order to select the subjects of study and perform analyses on rabies samples. The analysis of 15 samples (PCR) from each collection was carried out and the TC means were compared using the T-Student test. However, the two series did not differ significantly. In other words, the difference between the threshold value (TC) of the skin and saliva was not significant, so we can use one of the two samples for the diagnosis of rabies.