| Popis: |
LITTLE doubt exists that rabies is becoming an increasingly great potential threat to human health. Whereas, formerlyv the rabid dog constituted the main -ector for the transmission of rabies to man, now rabies is beinog found not onlyin the dog and in many other carnix-ora )ut more importantly in many species of hats.1 Consequently, larger numbers of people are becoming "high exposuire" risks to rabies. Were it not for the occasional demyelinating accideint which accompanies the administration of Pasteur treatment in a fortunately small per cent of people receiving such therapy. routine immunization against rabies would undoubtedly be recommended for groups with a high exposure risk such as veterinarians, animal handlers. sportsmen, campers, and others ex)osed to a similar risk. Several y-ears ago, Fox, et al.,2 reported their investigations showing the feasibility of immunizing human subjects b)y the intracutaneous, subcutaneotiss or intramuscular injection of a live attentlate(l rabies virus vaccine. Subsequently. others3'4 have confirmed those olbservations and submitted additional evidence of the safety of live, attenuated -irus for human inoculation. It was reported from this laboratory4 that a vaccine could be prepared from infected chick embryo which stimulated the production of neutralizing antibodies in all of 79 subjects after three intracutaneous injectionis of 0.2 ml HEP rabies vaccine at intervals of from five to seven days. While these observations were encouraging, several other projects were immediately suggested to determine optimal dosage of vaccine, rate of appearance of antibodies, durability of antibody response, and the like. Accordingly, the faculty and student body of a veterinary medical school volunteered to participate in a study designed to answer some of these questions, and the results are given in this report. |
