Identification of animal rabies in Inner Mongolia and analysis of the etiologic characteristics / 生物医学与环境科学（英文）

<p><b>OBJECTIVE</b>To perform pathological observation and etiological identification of specimens collected from dairy cows, beef cattle and dogs which were suspected of rabies in Inner Mongolia in 2011, and analyze their etiological characteristics.</p><p><b>METHODS</b>Pathological observation was conducted on the brain specimens of three infected animals with Hematoxylin-Eosin staining, followed by confirmation using immunofluorescence and nested RT-PCR methods. Finally, phylogenetic analysis was conducted using the virus N gene sequence amplified from three specimens.</p><p><b>RESULTS</b>Eosinophilic and cytoplasmic inclusion bodies were seen in neuronal cells of the CNS; and rabies non-characteristic histopathological changes were also detected in the CNS. The three brain specimens were detected positive. N gene nucleotide sequence of these three isolates showed distinct sequence identity, therefore they fell into different groups in the phylogenetic analysis. N gene in the cow and dog had higher homology with that in Hebei isolate, but that in the beef cattle had higher homology with that in Mongolian lupine isolate and Russian red fox isolate.</p><p><b>CONCLUSION</b>Rabies were observed in the dairy cow, beef cattle and canine in the farm in Inner Mongolia, in 2011, which led to a different etiologic characteristics of the epidemic situation.</p>

Comparative analysis of the pathogenic mechanisms of street rabies virus strains with different virulence levels / 生物医学与环境科学（英文）

<p><b>OBJECTIVE</b>To characterize two strains of street rabies virus (RABV) isolated from the brain tissue of cattle from Inner Mongolia. Differences in the histopathological and ultrastructural changes in the brain tissue of infected mice were determined to reveal variation in the pathogenesis of infection between street rabies virus strains.</p><p><b>METHODS</b>Ten-day-old mice were intracranially inoculated with one of three virus strains and brain tissue harvested when the mice were moribund. Various histopathological and ultrastructural markers of disease were then compared between the groups.</p><p><b>RESULTS</b>Infection with the street virus strain CNM1101C resulted in severe neuronal dendrites damage, but only mild cell apoptosis, T lymphocyte infiltration and microglial activation. Infection with the other street virus strain, CNM1103C, was characterized by cell apoptosis, T lymphocyte infiltration and microglial activation as well as dendrites damage. However, in comparison, infection with the attenuated virus strain CTN caused severe T lymphocyte infiltration, microglial activation and cell apoptosis, but left the neuronal dendrites intact.</p><p><b>CONCLUSION</b>The two street rabies virus strains isolated from cattle from Inner Mongolia had different levels of virulence and caused distinct pathological changes in infected mice. Therefore, we concluded that different pathogenic mechanisms exist between different RABV strains.</p>