Bat Rabies, Texas, 1996–2000

Abstract

Bats submitted to the Texas Department of Health (1996–2000) were speciated and tested for rabies virus antigen by direct immunofluorescence microscopy. Antigenic analysis of rabies virus–positive specimens was performed with monoclonal antibodies against the nucleoprotein of the virus; atypical or unexpected results were confirmed by genetic analysis of nucleoprotein sequence.

Keywords

• Rabies prevalence
• bats
• molecular epidemiology
• wildlife reservoir
• monoclonal antibody
• surveillance