title: Persistence of rabies antibody 5 years after pre-exposure prophylaxis with human diploid cell antirabies vaccine and antibody response to a single booster dose.
abstract: In 1978, 22 staff members of the National Institute of Virology, Pune, India, were given two doses of human diploid cell antirabies vaccine (HDCV) for primary pre-exposure prophylactic immunization; the interval between the two doses being approximately 4 weeks. Eighteen of these 22 vaccinees were given a booster dose 1 year later. All 18 vaccinees developed protective levels of antibody; most of them had antibody levels exceeding 10 IU/ml. In 1984, 5 years after the booster dose, 11 (79.0%) of 14 vaccinees tested still possessed neutralizing antibody levels ranging from 0.5 IU/ml to 10 IU/ml. Fourteen days after the administration of a booster dose, the antibody levels ranged from 10 to greater than or equal to 100 IU/ml for all except one vaccine (5.2 IU/ml). These findings demonstrate that the majority of vaccines retained detectable neutralizing antibody after pre-exposure prophylaxis for as long as 5 years and that a single booster dose thereafter evoked a good antibody response.
mesh_terms: D000914:Antibodies, Viral / Q000032:analysis*; D006801:Humans; D007117:Immunization, Secondary; D011819:Rabies Vaccines / Q000276:immunology*; D011820:Rabies virus / Q000276:immunology*; D013997:Time Factors
chemical_list: D000914:Antibodies, Viral; D011819:Rabies Vaccines