There is only a single report of clinically suspected case of rabies in an Indian rhinoceros (R. unicornis) (Das, 1968). The present report is to place on record a clinically suspected case of rabies in a 8 year old female rhino, at Prince of Wales Zoological Garden, Lucknow, India, which was subsequently confirmed by biological test and histopathological examinations. The clinical symptoms included off-feed, restlessness, salivation with froth, biting tendency and staggering gait followed by partial paralysis of lower jaw, head pressing to hard objects and absence of hydrophobia. The animal was found dead after ailing for six days. Postmortem examination revealed frothy exudate in the trachea and bronchi and severe congestion of the meningeal vessels. Histopathologically, brain tissues showed engorgement of blood vessels, marked neuronal degeneration, satellitosis and perivascular cuffing (Fig. 1). Schleifstein's stained sections revealed Negri bodies mostly in the Purkinje cells of cerebellum (Fig. 2). Mice inoculated intracerebrally with brain suspension started dying from the fifth day post-inoculation showing typical paralytic symptoms. Brain impression smears stained by Seller's stain revealed presence of Negri bodies. Epidemiological investigations pointed to the possibility of the animal having been infected through contact with a rabid dog.
The present report is to place on record a clinically suspected case of rabies in a 8 year old female rhino, at Prince of Wales Zoological Garden, Lucknow, India, which was subsequently confirmed by biological test and histopathological examinations.
