The K-State Rabies Laboratory:

• Is the primary diagnostic laboratory for the states of Kansas and Nebraska. The laboratory coordinates closely on all positive results with Kansas Department of Health and Environment and the Nebraska Department of Health and Human Services. The laboratory tests between 1,800 and 2,500 animal specimens annually by the direct fluorescent antibody method. The laboratory further characterizes all positive specimens from KS, NE and other mid-West states to determine the type or variant of rabies virus present in the animal.
  

• Is one of the highest volume rabies serology centers in the world for both humans and animals handling over 55,000 samples each year. According to the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices, pre-exposure rabies vaccination should be offered to persons at frequent or high-risk for potential rabies exposure, such as veterinarians and their staff, animal handlers, and for persons whose activities bring them into frequent contact with rabies virus or potentially rabid bats, raccoons, skunks, cats, or other species at risk for having rabies. Persons in the frequent-risk group should have a serum sample tested by the Rapid fluorescent Focus Inhibition Test (RFFIT) every 2 years. If the rabies virus neutralizing antibody titer is less than complete neutralization at a 1:5 serum dilution, the person should receive a single booster dose of vaccine. If vaccinated persons are exposed to rabies in the future, they are considered immunologically primed against rabies and simply require post-exposure prophylaxis for a person previously vaccinated (i.e., days 0 and 3 vaccination).
  

• Has extensive experience in measuring rabies antibodies by the Fluorescent Antibody Virus Neutralization (FAVN) test and Rapid fluorescent Focus Inhibition Test (RFFIT). In preparation for international travel of animals, there may be requirements for unique identification of animals and a series of time-dependent steps for documentation of rabies vaccination and serological confirmation of a response prior to travel. Measurement of an appropriate level of antibodies, most often by the FAVN test, may be required to facilitate inter-state and international travel of animals.
  

• Meets quality monitoring standards of the Clinical Laboratory Improvement Amendments and numerous State departments of health and routinely communicates with export authorities at USDA, Hawaii Quarantine, Australia, New Zealand, Japan, Caribbean Islands, South Africa, Canada, Mexico and European Union, Middle Eastern and South American countries. The laboratory participates in proficiency testing for the animal serology tests for export, both FAVN and RFFIT, as well as diagnostic proficiency testing.

• Welcomes and engages in collaborations with academic and commercial partners. In addition to active collaborations in the human and animal pre-clinical and clinical evaluation of novel vaccines, immune globulins, and monoclonal antibody preparations, ongoing collaborations include experimental clinical investigations of the human immune response to rabies virus infection versus vaccination, comparative methods of measuring rabies virus neutralizing antibodies (i.e., by RFFIT or FAVN) versus rabies antigen binding antibodies (i.e., by ELISA), viral pathogenesis and host immune interaction, and spatio-temporal and phylogenetic analysis of several rabies virus variants over the mid-Western landscape.