Rabies Virus Research Paper

Rabies virus, like many rhabdoviruses, does have extremely wide host range. In the wild it has been found infecting many mammalian species, while in the laboratory it has been found that birds can be infected, as well as cell cultures from mammals, birds, reptiles and insects (Carter and Saunders 175). The rabies virus is an enveloped virus in the Rhabdoviridae family with a cylindrical morphology. The structure of this virus is unique. It is a rod or bullet shaped, single-stranded, genome with negative-sense, unsegmented, enveloped RNA virus (Fig. A).
The genetic data is packaged as a ribonucleoprotein complex in which RNA is tightly bound by the viral nucleoprotein. The RNA genome of the virus encodes five proteins. The five proteins are