For the past decade, Awanui has offered commercial Rabies IgG serology testing for travellers and workers to that required confirmation of the immune status. As you will have noticed, the Rabies IgG serology test has undergone some changes in the last few years. With dwindling numbers, the cost per test to cover the overheads of the test has gradually increased over time to a point where the cost is now prohibitive for most of the consumers that previously used the service. The test now has extremely low demand and as a result continues to increase in price and turn-around-time – now lacking utility and viability.

Key Information

• Commercial (privately paid for) Rabies IgG serology testing at Awanui will be discontinued from 31/05/2026.
• Despite trying to arrange for alternative cost-effective testing overseas, we have been unable to reach a service level agreement with a reputable third-party provider.
• We are not currently aware of any other local laboratory providers offering this test currently.
• This will not affect clinical scenarios where there is risk of Rabies virus exposure or infection, which have been and continue to be serviced by the public hospital laboratory infrastructure.

While this change is unlikely to affect patient care in the majority of situations, we acknowledge that there may be some disruption as we are the last commercial provider of this test locally and apologise for any inconvenience to you and your patients. We hope this timely correspondence helps shift any reliance on the test in the coming weeks. We are grateful for your understanding of the above situation.

Dr Aakash Chhibber
Clinical Microbiologist