1) Isolate animals with suggestive clinical signs.
2) Handle with great care (ie use protective clothing to avoid contamination of skin wounds or by aerosol).
3) Remove brain and conduct tests on material stored in 50% glycerol:
(a) Immunofluorescence on smears/frozen sections of hippocampus or cerebellum will show diffuse intracytoplasmic fluorescence or focal fluorescence in Negri bodies (= rabies intracytoplasmic inclusion bodies which can be detected both in vivo and in vitro).
(b) Histological detection of Negri bodies using Mann's stain or silver stains.
(c) Intracerebral inoculation of mice with brain homogenate. Incubation period 7 - 18 days. Immunofluorescence on CNS sections to confirm.