title: Genetic stability (in vivo) of the attenuated oral rabies virus vaccine SAD B19.
abstract: The distribution of oral rabies vaccine baits containing replication-competent live viruses poses certain environmental safety risks; among others, the possibility of reversion to or an increase in virulence. Hence, the genetic stability of the complete genome of the most widely used oral rabies vaccine virus, SAD B19, was examined after four and 10 serial i.c. passages in foxes and mice, respectively. It was shown that the consensus strain of SAD B19 was extremely stable in vivo. After 10 consecutive passages in mice not a single mutation was observed. In foxes, seven single nucleotide exchanges were found between the first and fourth passage, of which only one resulted in an amino acid exchange at position 9240 of the L-gene. This mutation was not observed during the first three passages and, furthermore, it was shown that this mutation was not linked to enhanced virulence.
authors.affiliation: Institute of Epidemiology, Friedrich-Loeffler-Institut, Federal Research Institute for Animal Health, Seestrasse 55, 16868 Wusterhausen, Germany.
authors.forename: Aline
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Beckert
authors.forename: Lutz
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Geue
authors.forename: Ad
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Vos
authors.forename: Andreas
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Neubert
authors.forename: Conrad
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Freuling
authors.forename: Thomas
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Müller
mesh_terms: D000284:Administration, Oral; D000818:Animals; D001483:Base Sequence; D002460:Cell Line; D006224:Cricetinae; D005589:Foxes; D042822:Genomic Instability; D051379:Mice; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D009154:Mutation; D011818:Rabies / Q000821:virology*; D011819:Rabies Vaccines / Q000008:administration & dosage / Q000235:genetics*; D011820:Rabies virus / Q000235:genetics* / Q000472:pathogenicity; D012692:Serial Passage; D014613:Vaccines, Attenuated / Q000008:administration & dosage / Q000235:genetics; D014764:Viral Proteins / Q000235:genetics; D014774:Virulence
chemical_list: D011819:Rabies Vaccines; D014613:Vaccines, Attenuated; D014764:Viral Proteins