Inovação e ética: a adoção de técnicas substitutivas ao uso de animais no diagnóstico laboratorial da raiva

Abstract

Interdisciplinary approaches have been gaining greater recognition and prominence in the human and animal health communities, mainly due to the (re)emergence of several infectious diseases that emanate from the human-animal-environment interface. Rabies is an example, considered a serious zoonosis endemic in Brazil and globally neglected. Both epidemiological surveillance and confirmation of this disease depend on laboratory diagnosis, which is usually performed by the direct fluorescent antibody test (DFAT) and the mouse inoculation test (MIT) via intracranial inoculation of the suspected sample into suckling or weanling mice. However, the World Health Organization recently recognized the reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) as a valid primary technique for this diagnosis, which can replace the use of animals, avoiding suffering and death. This study presents a discussion about the technical and ethical implications of (not) adopting this alternative method, considering that all animals must be respected and understood as unique beings with their perceptions of the world, not as objects of research. It also further corroborates the need for new perspectives that reframe our relationships with non-human animals, which is fundamental for the implementation of systemic ethical-political changes, aiming at the end of animal instrumentalization and use in scientific research, as well as all forms of oppression.