Cost-Effective Regimens Offer Similar Protection.(Brief Article)

2001 SEP 12 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) --

by N.R. Saltmarsh, staff medical writer - Two postexposure rabies vaccine regimens recommended by the World Health Organization (WHO) appear to have similar protective efficacy in an Indian population with mild exposure to the disease.

Further evaluation is needed in the field, but the intradermal vaccines appear to offer a cost-effective alternative to intramuscular injection, which may make them ideal for use in developing countries, said S.N. Madhusudana and colleagues at the National Institute for Mental Health and Neuroscience, Karnataka.

"The World Health Organization has advocated two cost-effective intradermal regimens with cell culture vaccines for use in developing countries," noted Madhusudana and coworkers. "We evaluated these two regimens - the two-site and the eight-site regimens - in terms of immunogenicity, safety and tolerance in people with category I exposure to rabies."

The researchers evaluated 82 subjects who received 0.2 ml of purified chick embryo cell vaccine at either two vaccine sites (days 0, 3 and 7 and at one site on days 28 and 90, n=43) or eight sites (day 0, at four sites on day 7 and at one site on days 28 and 90, n=39).

Both regimens produced adequate rabies-neutralizing antibodies from day 14 onward although the second regimen produced a more rapid antibody response and significantly higher titers on all days tested, reported Madhusudana and team.

There were minimal side-effects and both regimens were well-tolerated, they ...