title: Investigation of a human case of rabies in the United Kingdom.
abstract: In May of 2001 a Nigerian woman visiting the United Kingdom presented with fever, headache and difficulty swallowing. Within 24 h she showed a marked deterioration and died shortly afterwards. Autopsy samples from a range of tissues were analysed to confirm a clinical diagnosis of rabies. Phylogenetic analysis of the viral nucleoprotein gene confirmed that this was an infection with a genotype 1 virus (classical rabies) belonging to the Africa 2 group, which is endemic in Northern Africa. Comparison of both the nucleoprotein and glycoprotein coding sequences of this isolate with an imported case of human rabies from 1996, also from Nigeria, showed that the two viruses were 99% homologous.
authors.affiliation: Rabies Research and Diagnostic Group, Veterinary Laboratories Agency, Weybridge, Addlestone, Surrey KT15 3NB, UK.
authors.forename: Nicholas
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Johnson
authors.forename: David Wade
authors.initials: DW
authors.lastname: Lipscomb
authors.forename: Robin
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Stott
authors.forename: G
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Gopal Rao
authors.forename: Karen
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Mansfield
authors.forename: Jemma
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Smith
authors.forename: Lorraine
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: McElhinney
authors.forename: Anthony R
authors.initials: AR
authors.lastname: Fooks
mesh_terms: D000595:Amino Acid Sequence; D005260:Female; D005838:Genotype; D006801:Humans; D008875:Middle Aged; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D009549:Nigeria; D019590:Nucleocapsid Proteins; D009698:Nucleoproteins / Q000737:chemistry / Q000235:genetics; D010802:Phylogeny; D011818:Rabies / Q000821:virology*; D011820:Rabies virus / Q000145:classification*; D014759:Viral Envelope Proteins / Q000737:chemistry; D014764:Viral Proteins / Q000737:chemistry / Q000235:genetics
chemical_list: D019590:Nucleocapsid Proteins; D009698:Nucleoproteins; D014759:Viral Envelope Proteins; D014764:Viral Proteins; C058314:nucleoprotein, Measles virus