Six Criteria for Rabies Diagnosis in Living Dogs
Veera Tepsumethanon, DVM*, Henry Wilde, MD, FACP*, Francois X Meslin, DVM**
Affiliation : * Queen Saovabha Memorial Institute, Thai Red Cross Society, (WHO Collaborating Center for Research on Rabies Pathogenesis and Prevention) ** World Health Organization, Geneva, Switzerland
VT and HW are recipients of Natural Science and Technology Development Agency
Objective : The authors studied the predictive value of six criteria for clinical diagnosis of rabies in living dogs.
Design : Identify and test the criteria in a retrospective and prospective study.
Materials and Methods : Both studies were conducted at the Rabies Diagnostic Unit, Queen Saovabha Memorial
Institute, Thai Red Cross Society, Bangkok. The authors reviewed 1,170 dogs that were kept under observation
for 10 days after they exhibited abnormal behavior. To test the predictive value of the six criteria, a prospective
study involving 450 rabies suspected dogs was also performed.
Results and
Conclusion : The six criteria demonstrated 90.2% sensitivity, 96.2% specificity and 94.6% accuracy
for the clinical diagnosis of rabies. They can be used for a presumptive diagnosis and may help in prioritizing
post-exposure treatments and institute urgent rabies control measures.
Keywords : Rabies, Clinical diagnosis, Live Dogs, Criteria
