Onderstepoort Journal of Veterinary Research, 60:283-287 (1993) Monoclonal antibody studies on rabies-related viruses

Rabies and rabies-related viruses are divided into four serotypes, although it has been suggested that the inclusion of European bat lyssaviruses results in six genotypes. Sixty-four rabies-related viruses were tested against a panel of 36 anti-nucleocapsid monoclonal antibodies prepared from the im-munization of Balb/0 mice with five prototypic rabies-related viruses. Reaction patterns obtained confirm-ed the original distinction between serotype 1-4 viruses and revealed multiple variants of Lagos bat and Mokola viruses. In addition, two biotypes of European bat lyssavirus were identified and a clear distinction was shown between these biotypes and Duvenhage virus of Africa. The origins and impor-tance of the rabies-related viruses are discussed