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Rabies vaccination at a virus-inoculated site as an alternative option to rabies immunoglobulin

Archives of Virology volume 161, pages 2537–2541 (2016)Cite this article

Abstract

Combined active and passive immunization has been established to be an optimal strategy for rabies post-exposure prophylaxis (PEP). Prompt administration of vaccine and rabies immunoglobulin (RIG) can reliably prevent the disease. However, RIG is unavailable and unaffordable in the majority of cases. On the basis of a model experiment using hamsters, we demonstrated that vaccine injection at the wound site in the same manner as administration of RIG provided protective efficacy that was not inferior to the current optimal PEP, a combination of vaccination and RIG. Further study is needed to determine whether it can replace the use of RIG.

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Acknowledgments

This work was supported in part by the Thai Red Cross Society, the Research Chairman Grant and the Cluster and Program Management Office (CPMO), from the National Science and Technology Development Agency of Thailand. We thank Ms. Siriporn Ghai for the extensive editing of this manuscript.

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Affiliations

  1. Faculty of Pharmacy, Yasuda Women’s University, 6-13-1 Yasuhigashi, Asaminami-ku, Hiroshima, 731-0153, Japan

    Kinjiro Morimoto & Yuichiro Sato

  2. Queen Saovabha Memorial Institute, Thai Red Cross Society, Bangkok, 10330, Thailand

    Pakamatz Khawplod

  3. WHO Collaborating Centre for Research and Training on Viral Zoonoses, Faculty of Medicine, Chulalongkorn University, Bangkok, 10330, Thailand

    Phatthamon Virojanapirom & Thiravat Hemachudha

Authors
  1. Kinjiro Morimoto
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  2. Pakamatz Khawplod
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  3. Yuichiro Sato
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  4. Phatthamon Virojanapirom
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  5. Thiravat Hemachudha
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Correspondence to Kinjiro Morimoto.

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Morimoto, K., Khawplod, P., Sato, Y. et al. Rabies vaccination at a virus-inoculated site as an alternative option to rabies immunoglobulin. Arch Virol 161, 2537–2541 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00705-016-2916-6

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00705-016-2916-6

Keywords

  • Rabies
  • Post-exposure prophylaxis (PEP)
  • Virus-neutralizing antibody (VNA)