title: Assessing safety and immunogenicity of post-exposure prophylaxis following interchangeability of rabies vaccines in humans.
abstract: Rabies post exposure prophylaxis with cell culture vaccines by either intramuscular route or intradermal route spans over a period of one month. World Health Organization recommends completing post exposure prophylaxis against rabies with the same cell culture or embryonated egg rabies vaccine and with same route of administration and any deviation from this shall be an exception. In the present study, the safety and immunogenicity of rabies post-exposure prophylaxis was studied prospectively in 90 animal bite cases that had interchangeability of rabies vaccines either by route of administration or brand/type and such changes had occurred due to logistical/financial problems. Among them, 47 had change in route of administration from intramuscular to intradermal or vice versa and 43 had change in the brand/type of cell culture rabies vaccine. All of them had category III rabies exposure and received equine rabies immunoglobulin along with the rabies vaccine. None of the study subjects had any adverse reactions. The rabies virus neutralizing antibody titers was assessed by rapid fluorescent focus inhibition test and all the vaccinees had titers ≥0.5 IU per mL on day 14 which is considered as adequate for protection against rabies. Thus, the present study showed that, rabies post-exposure prophylaxis was safe and immunogenic despite changes in the route of administration and brand/type of rabies vaccine.
authors.affiliation: Department of Community Medicine; Kempegowda Institute of Medical Sciences (KIMS); Bangalore, India.
authors.forename: Hardanahalli S
authors.initials: HS
authors.lastname: Ravish
authors.affiliation: Department of Community Medicine; Kempegowda Institute of Medical Sciences (KIMS); Bangalore, India.
authors.forename: Mysore K
authors.initials: MK
authors.lastname: Sudarshan
authors.affiliation: Department of NeuroVirology; NIMHANS; Bangalore, India.
authors.forename: Shampur N
authors.initials: SN
authors.lastname: Madhusudana
authors.affiliation: Department of Community Medicine; Kempegowda Institute of Medical Sciences (KIMS); Bangalore, India.
authors.forename: Rachana R
authors.initials: RR
authors.lastname: Annadani
authors.affiliation: Department of Community Medicine; Kempegowda Institute of Medical Sciences (KIMS); Bangalore, India.
authors.forename: Doddabele H Ashwath
authors.initials: DH
authors.lastname: Narayana
authors.affiliation: Department of NeuroVirology; NIMHANS; Bangalore, India.
authors.forename: Ashwin Y
authors.initials: AY
authors.lastname: Belludi
authors.affiliation: Department of Community Medicine; Kempegowda Institute of Medical Sciences (KIMS); Bangalore, India.
authors.forename: Gangaboraiah
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Anandaiah
authors.affiliation: Department of Community Medicine; Kempegowda Institute of Medical Sciences (KIMS); Bangalore, India.
authors.forename: Veena
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Vijayashankar
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000818:Animals; D002626:Chemistry, Pharmaceutical; D004285:Dogs; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D055261:Immunogenetic Phenomena / Q000187:drug effects / Q000276:immunology*; D007271:Injections, Intradermal; D007273:Injections, Intramuscular; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D056990:Post-Exposure Prophylaxis / Q000379:methods*; D011818:Rabies / Q000276:immunology* / Q000517:prevention & control*; D011819:Rabies Vaccines / Q000008:administration & dosage / Q000009:adverse effects* / Q000276:immunology*; D055815:Young Adult
chemical_list: D011819:Rabies Vaccines
keywords: change of route; change of vaccine type; immunogenicity; post-exposure prophylaxis; rabies vaccine; safety