Showing papers by "Charles E. Rupprecht published in 1988"
TL;DR: Protection experiments in mice have not demonstrated correlations between protective activity and degree of antigenic difference between the vaccine strain and the challenge virus, so changes in antigenic structure, as determined by analysis with rabies virus-specific MAbs, cannot predict whether a given rabies vaccine will protect against a particular field virus.
Abstract: Rabies virus-specific monoclonal antibodies (MAbs) have served to describe operationally the topography of the antigenic structure of the glycoprotein and nucleocapsid proteins of rabies virus. With the use of nucleocapsid protein-specific MAbs and cleavage fragments of the nucleoprotein and phosphoprotein, it has been possible to identify the chemical structure of two antigenic sites of the nucleoprotein and one antigenic site of the phosphoprotein. Antisera produced to synthetic peptides that make up the structure of these antigenic sites exhibited reactivities similar to those of MAbs. Analysis of a large number of isolates of rabies virus from different animal species and from different geographic locations revealed that rabies viruses differ considerably in their antigenic structure and can be identified according to their characteristic reactivity patterns with MAbs. Analysis of field virus isolates has also revealed that strains of rabies virus generally are associated with only one or a few major mammalian hosts within any given geographic area. Protection experiments in mice have not demonstrated correlations between protective activity and degree of antigenic difference between the vaccine strain and the challenge virus. Therefore, changes in antigenic structure, as determined by analysis with rabies virus-specific MAbs, cannot predict whether a given rabies vaccine will protect against a particular field virus.
120 citations
TL;DR: A vaccinia recombinant virus vaccine (V-RG) expressing the ERA (Evelyn-Rokitnicki-Abelseth) rabies virus glycoprotein was highly immunogenic for laboratory animals and raccoons by the intradermal, intramuscular, and oral routes.
Abstract: Raccoon rabies exists in epizootic proportions in the southeastern and mid-Atlantic regions of the United States, but efficacious oral vaccines for control of rabies in this important vector have not been previously demonstrated. Alternatively, a vaccinia recombinant virus vaccine (V-RG) expressing the ERA (Evelyn-Rokitnicki-Abelseth) rabies virus glycoprotein was highly immunogenic for laboratory animals and raccoons by the intradermal, intramuscular, and oral routes. Raccoons that ate a synthetic sponge bait containing 1.0 mL (10(8) pfu/mL) of V-RG were completely (eight of eight) or 80% (eight of 10) protected from challenge with street rabies virus at 30 and 205 days after ingestion, respectively. In laboratory contact trials limited V-RG transmission occurred between animals that were rabies seronegative and those that were orally immunized and seropositive. After ingestion of bait, V-RG virus was recovered from buccal mucosa, tonsil, and parotid or submandibular lymph nodes of raccoons within 24-48 hours of oral immunization but not thereafter. Adult and immature raccoons showed no adverse clinical signs or gross or microscopic lesions attributable to V-RG vaccination at any time.
81 citations
TL;DR: The aerial distribution system is capable of economically reaching a high proportion of foxes, skunks, and raccoons over large areas and trials with attenuated ERA (Evelyn-Rokitnicki-Abelseth) vaccines are under way in Ontario.
Abstract: An aerial baiting system was developed to deliver oral rabies vaccines to wild carnivore vectors of rabies, e.g., red fox, striped skunk, and raccoon. The bait consists of a polyethylene bag that contains either a 30-g hamburger ball or a 25-mL cube of polyurethane sponge coated with a wax-beef tallow mixture containing 100-150 mg of tetracycline as a biomarker. Attractants used with the sponge were added to the bag (e.g., liver slurry, cheeses, fish oils, or fruits). Baits (greater than 80,000) were dropped from light aircraft at densities of 18-120 baits/km2 over test areas in Ontario and Pennsylvania. Rates of bait acceptance were assessed by the presence of fluorescent tetracycline deposits in the teeth of animals obtained from hunters and trappers. Bait acceptance reached 74% in foxes, 54% in skunks, 43% in raccoons, and 85% in coyotes in the Ontario trials; bait acceptance by raccoons in a small trial in Pennsylvania reached 76%. Also, 66% of juvenile foxes that ate baits ate a second bait 7 or more days after eating the first, thus giving the potential for a booster effect. The cost of aerial distribution of bait (excluding cost of bait and vaccine) in Canadian dollars was $1.45/km2. The aerial distribution system is capable of economically reaching a high proportion of foxes, skunks, and raccoons over large areas. Trials with attenuated ERA (Evelyn-Rokitnicki-Abelseth) vaccines are under way in Ontario.
65 citations
01 Jan 1988
TL;DR: Despite its antiquity as a major zoonosis, and the firm recognition of its salient biological features by the late 19th century, rabies commands considerable public health and scientific attention to the present day.
Abstract: Despite its antiquity as a major zoonosis, and the firm recognition of its salient biological features by the late 19th century, rabies commands considerable public health and scientific attention to the present day Unquestionably, neonatal rotaviral diarrhea, malaria, schistosomiasis, filariasis, foot and mouth disease, brucellosis, leptospirosis, and a multitude of other infectious diseases exact greater global mortality and economic loss (1), but few wield a similar specter of hysteria or prognostic dilemma as rabies, especially once the neurological syndrome manifests
43 citations