To Sukie Crandall concerning the possibility of finding rabies virus in CSF: Suki - this possibility is fairly slim. Remember - the virus would most likley have to be cultured, and rhbdoviruses are notoriously difficult to culture. The possibility of false negatives are infinite. About human tests for rabies - There is another viral condition which can be transmitted to humans by rhesus monkeys and other macaques called Herpes B, which causes a fatal encephalitis in humans. When a person is bitten, a biopsy is taken from the site of the bite which is then cultured for the presence of the virus. (Herpesviruses, though are fairly easy to culture). I wonder if this has ever been tried woth rabies bite victims (but then you have the rhabdovirus culture problems again....) My 2 cents n this issue (again?..) Bruce Williams, DVM Department of Veterinary Pathology [log in to unmask] Armed Forces Institute of Pathology OR [log in to unmask] Washington, D.C. 20306-6000 (202) 782-2600/2602 [Posted in FML issue 1174]