Oelofsen, M.J.Smith, M.S.Verwoerd, Daniel Wynand2014-01-272014-01-2720131993Oelofsen, MJ & Smith, MS 1993, 'Rabies and bats in a rabies-endemic area of southern Africa : application of two commercial test kits for antigen and antibody detection’, Onderstepoort Journal of Veterinary Research, vol. 60, no. 3, pp. 257-260.0330-2465http://hdl.handle.net/2263/33102The articles have been scanned in colour with a HP Scanjet 5590; 600dpi. Adobe Acrobat XI Pro was used to OCR the text and also for the merging and conversion to the final presentation PDF-format.In southern Africa, isolates of rabies-related viruses (i.e. Duvenhage virus and Lagos bat virus) have been made from insectivorous and frugivorous bats. As no recent formal bat virus survey has been reported in southern Africa, a survey of bats in rabies-endemic areas was undertaken. Five hundred and forty seven bats (13 species) were collected from 21 localities in the Orange Free State, Lesotho and the northern Cape Province. None of the 190 bat sera tested using the "Trousse Platelia® Rage" ELISA kit (Diagnostic Pasteur), had antibodies to rabies virus glycoprotein G. Rabies virus nucleocapsid antigen was also sought for in the brains of 530 bats (13 species) by means of the "Rapid rabies enzyme immunodiagnosis" (RREID)® test (Diagnostics Pasteur) . No positive results were obtained. These results show that bats are unlikely to play an important role as hosts of rabies in these parts of Africa, although a low rate of infection cannot be excluded.en© ARC-Onderstepoort (original). © University of Pretoria. Dept of Library Services (digital).Veterinary medicineVeterinary medicine -- South AfricaArticle