Persistence of Rabies Virus-Neutralizing Antibodies after Vaccination of Rural Population following Vampire Bat Rabies Outbreak in Brazil - PubMed (original) (raw)

. 2016 Sep 21;10(9):e0004920.

doi: 10.1371/journal.pntd.0004920. eCollection 2016 Sep.

Viviane Jusot 2, Guy Houillon 2, Anvar Rasuli 2, Luzia Martorelli 3, Ana Paula Kataoka 3, Mohamed Ben Mechlia 4, Anne-Sophie Le Guern 4, Liliam Rodrigues 1, Rhomero Assef 1, Alvino Maestri 1, Reynaldo Lima 5, Yolande Rotivel 4, Valérie Bosch-Castells 2, Noël Tordo 4 5 6

Affiliations

Persistence of Rabies Virus-Neutralizing Antibodies after Vaccination of Rural Population following Vampire Bat Rabies Outbreak in Brazil

Rita Medeiros et al. PLoS Negl Trop Dis. 2016.

Abstract

Background: Animal control measures in Latin America have decreased the incidence of urban human rabies transmitted by dogs and cats; currently most cases of human rabies are transmitted by bats. In 2004-2005, rabies outbreaks in populations living in rural Brazil prompted widespread vaccination of exposed and at-risk populations. More than 3,500 inhabitants of Augusto Correa (Pará State) received either post-exposure (PEP) or pre-exposure (PrEP) prophylaxis. This study evaluated the persistence of rabies virus-neutralizing antibodies (RVNA) annually for 4 years post-vaccination. The aim was to evaluate the impact of rabies PrEP and PEP in a population at risk living in a rural setting to help improve management of vampire bat exposure and provide additional data on the need for booster vaccination against rabies.

Methodology/principal findings: This prospective study was conducted in 2007 through 2009 in a population previously vaccinated in 2005; study participants were followed-up annually. An RVNA titer >0.5 International Units (IU)/mL was chosen as the threshold of seroconversion. Participants with titers ≤0.5 IU/mL or Equivalent Units (EU)/mL at enrollment or at subsequent annual visits received booster doses of purified Vero cell rabies vaccine (PVRV). Adherence of the participants from this Amazonian community to the study protocol was excellent, with 428 of the 509 (84%) who attended the first interview in 2007 returning for the final visit in 2009. The long-term RVNA persistence was good, with 85-88.0% of the non-boosted participants evaluated at each yearly follow-up visit remaining seroconverted. Similar RVNA persistence profiles were observed in participants originally given PEP or PrEP in 2005, and the GMT of the study population remained >1 IU/mL 4 years after vaccination. At the end of the study, 51 subjects (11.9% of the interviewed population) had received at least one dose of booster since their vaccination in 2005.

Conclusions/significance: This study and the events preceding it underscore the need for the health authorities in rabies enzootic countries to decide on the best strategies and timing for the introduction of routine rabies PrEP vaccination in affected areas.

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Conflict of interest statement

I have read the journal's policy and the authors of this manuscript have the following competing interests: RM, LM, APK, MBM, ASLG, LR, RA, AM, RL, YR and NT have no conflicts of interest to declare. GH, AR and VBC are Sanofi Pasteur employees. VJ was a Sanofi Pasteur employee at the time of study conduct. This does not alter our adherence to all PLoS policies on sharing data and materials.

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Grants and funding

The study sponsor and funder, Sanofi Pasteur, was involved in all stages of the study, including study design, data collection, analysis and interpretation, preparation of this article, and decision to submit the article for publication.

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