Evaluation of ERA anti-rabies vaccine against four different antigenic strains of rabies virus in mice

Abstract

ERA anti-rabies vaccine prepared in kidney tissue culture was evaluated against four different antigenic strains of rabies virus in mice: two of them dog strains, C/SP and C/NG, another a bat vampire strain, DR-19, and the CVS strain. The CVS antigenical characteristics were determined by means the antinucleocapsid monoclonal antibodies technique. Twenty one days old mice were vaccinated, intramuscularly, in the inner side of the thigh, with 0.05 ml of vaccine and challenged at 42 days old, together with those of the control group, intramuscularly, in the inner side of the thigh, with 0.05 ml of the corresponding viral strain dilution. The ERA anti-rabies vaccine protected 100% of all the mice challenged with C/SP, C/NG and DR-19 strains and 83% of those challenged with CVS. The control groups mortality rate varied between 70 and 90%.