I am thinking about the two grizzly bears at our local zoo that had to be killed in the 90’s because one of them scratched a child who jumped into their caged area. They could then confirm that neither animal had rabies.
Why is there not a more novel way to test for rabies? And why can’t the human be tested for it?
In: 357
Because the best test for rabies in animals, is an antibody test that requires a large portion of the animals fresh brain, and multiple areas must be tested to rule out the disease (and assess the risk to human at risk).
Even the constellation of tests the use to try to determine if a human has the disease isn’t as accurate, and since Rabies is so lethal you’re not going to risk doing a test that could say the animal is negative when it isn’t.
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