DIAGNOSIS OF RABIES 667 



tive rabies," etc. Harvey, Carter, and Acton x describe a spon- 

 taneous disease in dogs due to a general infection with B. pyocy- 

 aneus, which closely simulates rabies. By subdural inoculation 

 the disease is reproduced in rabbits, with paresis of the hind legs 

 and death in from sixteen to twenty-one days. The Negri bodies 

 are absent, the course of the disease differs somewhat from rabies, 

 and the B. pyocyaneus can be isolated from the brain and blood. 



Diagnosis of Rabies 



In a case of suspected rabies in a dog the animal should not be 

 killed immediately, but should be kept under observation until 

 it dies, or for three or four weeks, and then killed. 



1. Moderately thin smears on slides are made from (a) the 

 cortex in the region of the fissure of Eolando (the crucial sulcus 

 in the dog), (b) the hippocampus major, (c) the cerebellum. They 

 are dried in the air, fixed for five minutes in methyl alcohol, 

 and then stained in weak Giemsa (1 drop stain, 1 c.c. distilled 

 water ; with 1 drop of 1 per cent, potassium carbonate solution 

 to every 10 c.c. of the dilute stain) for three hours. The stained 

 films are then washed in running tap-water for one to three 

 minutes, dried with filter-paper, and examined for the Negri 

 bodies. 



Or the moist films may be fixed in methyl alcohol, and without 

 drying stained for one minute in a mixture of 10 c.c. distilled 

 water, 3 drops of a saturated alcoholic solution of basic fuchsin, 

 and 2 c.c. of Loflfler's methylene-blue. Eosin-methylene-blue 

 mixtures may also be used. 



The cytoplasm of the bodies stains orange, pink, red, or magenta, 

 the central nuclei are granular, and appear bluish or purplish. 



Luzzani considers that the Negri bodies can generally be well 

 seen in teased up fresh material unstained. It is stated that 

 structures resembling the Negri bodies may be present in the brain 

 after death from snake-bite. 



2. If the Negri bodies cannot be detected, inoculation should 

 be performed. The brain should be removed as soon as possible, 

 and if it cannot be manipulated immediately, should be placed 

 in sterile glycerin. From the middle of the floor of the fourth 

 ventricle a small piece about the size of a pea is removed ; this is 



1 Veterinary Record, July 22, 1911, p 57. 



