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A Comparative Study of the RAPINA and the Virus-Neutralizing Test (RFFIT) for the Estimation of
D L Manalo1, K Yamada2, I Watanabe3
1Department of Health, Research Institute for Tropical Medicine (RITM-DOH), Alabang, Philippines.
Zoonoses and Public Health
|November 19, 2016
Summary
Mass dog vaccination is key to controlling rabies. A new rapid neutralizing antibody test (RAPINA) accurately assesses vaccine coverage, offering a simpler alternative to traditional methods for rabies surveillance in dogs.
Area of Science:
- Veterinary Virology
- Immunology
- Public Health
Background:
- Mass dog vaccination is crucial for interrupting urban rabies transmission, with at least 70% immunization recommended by OIE and WHO.
- Assessing protective immunity and vaccine coverage requires measuring virus-neutralizing antibody (VNA) levels against rabies virus (RABV).
- Current OIE/WHO-recommended tests (RFFIT, FAVN) are cell-culture based, requiring live viruses and specialized equipment, limiting field applicability.
Purpose of the Study:
- To compare the performance of the novel rapid neutralizing antibody test (RAPINA) against the gold-standard RFFIT for evaluating dog rabies vaccination status.
- To assess the suitability of RAPINA for rabies surveillance in resource-limited settings.
Main Methods:
- A total of 1135 dog sera from the Philippines, Thailand, and Japan were analyzed using both RAPINA and RFFIT.
- The rapid neutralizing antibody test (RAPINA) is an immunochromatographic assay using inactivated virus to qualitatively estimate VNA levels.
- Performance metrics including positive and negative predictive values and concordance (kappa) were calculated and compared between the two tests.
Main Results:
- The RAPINA demonstrated high overall positive predictive values (96.2-99.3%) and negative predictive values (84.5-94.8%).
- Excellent concordance (kappa: 0.946-0.97) was observed between RAPINA and RFFIT results across the three countries.
- The test showed high homology and reproducibility among different laboratories, indicating reliability.
Conclusions:
- The RAPINA is a simple, rapid, and inexpensive assay suitable for estimating VNA levels in dogs.
- Its high accuracy and reproducibility make it an appropriate tool for surveying rabies vaccination coverage, especially in resource-limited countries.
- This facilitates more effective rabies control programs through improved monitoring of vaccine effectiveness.
