A reduced panel of anti-nucleocapsid monoclonal antibodies for bat rabies virus identification in Europe

A reduced panel of 4 anti-nucleocapsid monoclonal antibodies (mAb) was set up to distinguish viruses of terrestrial mammal origin from viruses of bat origin in Europe. Four additional mAb were necessary to identify each one of the four serotypes of lyssavirus. These 8 mAb were selected out of 25 mAb secreted by hybridomas obtained from mice immunized with either serotype 1 lyssavirus (rabies virus PV4) or serotype 3 lyssavirus (Mokola). They were screened with 32 viruses representative of the four lyssavirus serotypes and the two types of European bat lyssavirus. The panel was tested by immunofluorescence assay with 25 cell-culture-adapted European wildlife isolates and in routine rabies identification with 65 rabid animal brain smears. Two isolates from Eptesicus serotinus in France were identified as European bat lyssavirus 1 with the reduced panel.