Novel mutation at intergenic region between phosphoprotein and matrix genes: a possible mechanism for enhancing rabies virus pathogenicity after non-neuronal passage

摘要

Background: Rabies virus (RV) is neurotropic. Attenuation is usually achieved after passage of RV in non-neuronal cells resulting in an attenuated strain. QS-BHK-P7 is an RV passage in baby hamster kidney (BHK-21) cells for 7 times. It was developed at Queen Saovabha Memorial Institute. QS-BHK-P7 was derived from street RV isolate from the brain of a Thai rabid dog, designated as QS-05. Preliminary data suggested that QS-BHK-P7 might have increasing virulence causing lethality by intra-cerebral (IC) and intra–muscular (IM) routes.