Comparison of anamnestic responses to rabies vaccination in dogs and cats with current and out-of-date vaccination status.

Objective: To compare anamnestic antibody responses of dogs and cats with current versus out-of-date vaccination status.

Design: Cross-sectional study.

Animals: 74 dogs and 33 cats.

Effects of anesthesia and surgery on serologic responses to vaccination in kittens.

Objective: To determine the effects of anesthesia and surgery on serologic responses to vaccination in kittens.

Design: Prospective controlled trial.

Animals: 32 specific-pathogen-free kittens.

Response of feral cats to vaccination at the time of neutering.

Objective: To determine whether administration of inactivated virus or modified-live virus (MLV) vaccines to feral cats at the time of neutering induces protective serum antiviral antibody titers.

Design: Prospective study.

Animals: 61 feral cats included in a trap-neuter-return program in Florida.

Results of vaccination of Asian elephants (Elephas maximus) with monovalent inactivated rabies vaccine.

Objective: To evaluate the humoral immune response of Asian elephants to a primary IM vaccination with either 1 or 2 doses of a commercially available inactivated rabies virus vaccine and evaluate the anamnestic response to a 1-dose booster vaccination.

Animals: 16 captive Asian elephants.

Procedures: Elephants with no known prior rabies vaccinations were assigned into 2 treatment groups of 8 elephants; 1 group received 1 dose of vaccine, and the other group received 2 doses of vaccine 9 days apart.

Detection of cellular immunity to rabies antigens in human vaccinees.

A nonradioactive multi-parameter flow cytometry assay was developed to identify antigen-specific lymphocytes in human subjects previously vaccinated against rabies virus and was subsequently compared to the standard tritiated thymidine method. A cell tracking dye, carboxyfluorescein succinimidyl ester, was used in combination with surface label for CD4 and CD8 cells in order to determine the response of lymphocytes to killed rabies virus in an antigen recall assay. The rabies virus-specific lymphocyte response was compared to the humoral immune response in each of ten vaccinated and five non-vaccinated subjects.

Circumstances of bat encounters and knowledge of rabies among Minnesota residents submitting bats for rabies testing.

Minnesota residents who submitted a bat to the Minnesota Department of Health for rabies testing in 2003 were surveyed by telephone regarding the circumstances of the bat encounter and their knowledge of bats and rabies. Of 442 bats submitted for testing, 12 (3%) tested positive for rabies, and 410 (93%) tested negative; 17 (4%) bats were unsuitable for testing, and three (1%) had equivocal results. A case-control study found that rabid bats were more likely than non-rabid bats to be found in September, found outside, found in a wooded area, unable to fly, acting ill, or acting aggressively.

The influence of homologous vs. heterologous challenge virus strains on the serological test results of rabies virus neutralizing assays.

The effect that the relatedness of the viral seed strain used to produce rabies vaccines has to the strain of challenge virus used to measure rabies virus neutralizing antibodies after vaccination was evaluated. Serum samples from 173 subjects vaccinated with either purified Vero cell rabies vaccine (PVRV), produced from the Pittman Moore (PM) seed strain of rabies virus, or purified chick embryo cell rabies vaccine (PCECV), produced from the Flury low egg passage (Flury-LEP) seed strain of rabies virus, were tested in parallel assays by RFFIT using a homologous and a heterologous testing system. In the homologous system, CVS-11 was used as the challenge virus in the assay to evaluate the humoral immune response in subjects vaccinated with PVRV and Flury-LEP was used for subjects vaccinated with PCECV.

Vaccination of Egyptian fruit bats (Rousettus aegyptiacus) with monovalent inactivated rabies vaccine.

Twenty-six captive, adult Egyptian fruit bats (Rousettus aegyptiacus) were tested for the presence of rabies virus neutralizing antibodies (RVNA) using a rapid fluorescent focus inhibition test before and after vaccination. The bats were randomly assigned into three treatment groups: group A (n = 10) bats each received one 0.1-ml dose of monovalent inactivated rabies vaccine, group B (n = 10) bats each received two 0.

Induction of protective immunity by topic application of a recombinant adenovirus expressing rabies virus glycoprotein.

The objective of this study was to determine if a replication defective recombinant adenovirus expressing rabies virus glycoprotein (Adrab.gp) given through a non-invasive vaccination route (by topical application) onto the skin (NIVS) could elicit an immune response and/or protection against rabies. Groups of mice were immunized by NIVS with various doses of Adrab.