Peer-reviewed veterinary case report
Rabies antibody levels in Japanese dogs after one or more vaccinations
By Watanabe, Ippei et al.·Published in Japanese journal of infectious diseases·2013·Department of Microbiology, Japan·View original on PubMed →
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Original publication title: Relationship between virus-neutralizing antibody levels and the number of rabies vaccinations: a prospective study of dogs in Japan.
- Species:
- dog
Plain-English summary
A study of 756 dogs in Japan found that those who received at least two rabies vaccinations had much higher levels of protection against rabies compared to those who only had one shot. Specifically, 97.8% of the dogs with two vaccinations had protective antibody levels, while only 51.1% of those with one vaccination did. Most dogs that were vaccinated twice maintained these protective levels for at least two years. This suggests that the current vaccination schedule is effective, but improvements are needed to ensure more dogs are vaccinated against rabies.
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Abstract
A mass rabies vaccination of dogs has been conducted annually in Japan over the last 60 years. To assess both current levels of rabies virus-neutralizing antibody (VNA) in dogs and the rationale for current vaccination procedures, we used a rapid fluorescent focus inhibition test to determine VNA levels in 756 dogs that had visited animal hospitals in Japan. We found that 51.1% of the dogs that had received 1 rabies vaccination had protective VNA levels (≥0.5 IU/ml) with a geometric mean of 0.61 IU/ml. In contrast, 97.8% of the dogs that had been vaccinated at least twice had protective VNA levels with a geometric mean of 7.86 IU/ml. Furthermore, 97.9-100% of the dogs vaccinated at least twice retained protective VNA levels into the second year after the last vaccination. Although VNA levels in the dogs vaccinated at least twice tended to decline 2 years after the last vaccination, 78.9% retained protective VNA levels. Thus, the current rabies vaccination schedule provides adequate protection, but the registration system and vaccination schedule needs to be improved to ensure that increased numbers of dogs are vaccinated against rabies.
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Search related cases →Original publication on PubMed: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/23429079/