Rabies can be confirmed in patients early in illness by: March 2013 (b, e)

Ans. B i.e. Antigen detection by immunofluorescence of skin biopsy Rabies can be confirmed in patients early in illness by antigen detection using immunofluorescence of skin biopsy, and by virus isolation from saliva and other secretions. Immunofluorescence of corneal impression smears has proved unreliable. Neutralizing antibodies are not usually detectable in serum of CSF before the eighth day. Negri bodies They are eosinophilic, sharply outlined, pathognomonic inclusion bodies (2-10 um in diameter) found in the cytoplasm of ceain nerve cells containing the virus of rabies, especially in Ammon's horn of the hippocampus. Often also found in the cerebellar coex of postmoem brain samples of rabies victims. They consist of ribonuclear proteins produced by the virus.