Immune response in skunks to a vaccinia virus recombinant expressing the rabies virus glycoprotein.
Striped skunks (Mephitis mephitis) were vaccinated with a vaccinia virus recombinant expressing the rabies virus glycoprotein. Virus neutralizing antibodies to rabies virus were present at 14 days postvaccination by the following routes: scarification (6/6), intramuscular (4/4) and intestinal (5/8). Six out of seven skunks that ate vaccine filled baits had virus neutralizing antibodies at 28 days. When challenged intramuscularly with street virus, the survival rates were 5/7 for the bait-fed group, 4/8 for the intestinal group, 3/4 for the intramuscular group, 5/6 for the animals that were scarified, and 0/8 for controls. This is the first report of a high rate of immunization of skunks with a rabies vaccine administered orally.
D000818:Animals; D000941:Antigens / Q000276:immunology*; D002335:Carnivora / Q000276:immunology*; D005260:Female; D006023:Glycoproteins / Q000276:immunology*; D008297:Male; D012889:Mephitidae / Q000276:immunology*; D011820:Rabies virus / Q000276:immunology*; D014614:Vaccines, Synthetic / Q000276:immunology*; D014616:Vaccinia virus / Q000276:immunology*; D014764:Viral Proteins / Q000276:immunology*
D000941:Antigens; D006023:Glycoproteins; D014614:Vaccines, Synthetic; D014764:Viral Proteins