Survival of rabid rabbits after intrathecal immunization

Rabies is a fatal zoonotic disease for which no effective treatment measures are currently available. Rabies virus (RABV) has anti‐apoptotic and anti‐inflammatory properties that suppress nerve cell damage and inflammation in the CNS. These features imply that the elimination of RABV from the CNS by...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Neuropathology 2014-06, Vol.34 (3), p.277-283
Main Authors: Kesdangsakonwut, Sawang, Sunden, Yuji, Aoshima, Keisuke, Iwaki, Yoshimi, Okumura, Masahiro, Sawa, Hirofumi, Umemura, Takashi
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
animal experiment
Animals
CNS pathology
Immunization - mortality
Immunization - trends
Injections, Spinal
intrathecal immunization
Original
Rabbits
Rabies - drug therapy
Rabies - mortality
Rabies - pathology
Rabies Vaccines - administration & dosage
Rabies virus
Rabies virus - drug effects
Survival Rate - trends
treatment of rabies
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Summary:Rabies is a fatal zoonotic disease for which no effective treatment measures are currently available. Rabies virus (RABV) has anti‐apoptotic and anti‐inflammatory properties that suppress nerve cell damage and inflammation in the CNS. These features imply that the elimination of RABV from the CNS by appropriate treatment could lead to complete recovery from rabies. Ten rabbits showing neuromuscular symptoms of rabies after subcutaneous (SC) immunization using commercially available vaccine containing inactivated whole RABV particles and subsequent fixed RABV (CVS strain) inoculation into hind limb muscles were allocated into three groups. Three rabbits received no further treatment (the SC group), three rabbits received three additional SC immunizations using the same vaccine, and four rabbits received three intrathecal (IT) immunizations, in which the vaccine was inoculated directly into the cerebrospinal fluid (the SC/IT group). An additional three naïve rabbits were inoculated intramuscularly with RABV and not vaccinated. The rabbits exhibited neuromuscular symptoms of rabies within 4–8 days post‐inoculation (dpi) of RABV. All of the rabbits died within 8–12 dpi with the exception of one rabbit in the SC group and all four rabbits in SC/IT group, which recovered and started to respond to external stimuli at 11–18 dpi and survived until the end of the experimental period. RABV was eliminated from the CNS of the surviving rabbits. We report here a possible, although still incomplete, therapy for rabies using IT immunization. Our protocol may rescue the life of rabid patients and prompt the future development of novel therapies against rabies.
ISSN:0919-6544
1440-1789
DOI:10.1111/neup.12094