Nandi Sukdeb, Kumar Manoj
Virology Laboratory, Center for Animal Disease Research and Diagnosis (CADRAD), Indian Veterinary Research Institute (IVRI), Izatnagar, U.P., India.
Avicenna J Med Biotechnol. 2010 Jan;2(1):3-21.
Rabies is a fatal neurological disease and a persistent global problem. It is spread primarily by domestic dogs but other canid, viverrid (skunks and raccoons) and chiropteran species are considered as the most efficient vectors of the disease. Since dogs are the main perpetuator of rabies, special attention has to be given to bring all the dogs including unauthorized stray dogs under immunization umbrella in order to control rabies. Vaccination is the only way to combat the disease before and after exposure or infection as there is no treatment available once the symptoms have appeared. After the first crude nerve tissue vaccine developed by Pasteur in 1885, a number of rabies vaccines for animal and human use have been developed with varying degree of safety and efficacy over the years. Presently, cell culture based inactivated rabies vaccines are largely used in most of the parts of the world. However, these vaccines are too expensive and unaffordable for vaccination of people and animals in developing countries. The comparatively cheaper inactivated nerve tissues vaccines can cause serious side-effects such as autoimmune encephalomyelitis in inoculated animals and production has been discontinued in several countries. Although attenuated live vaccines can efficiently elicit a protective immune response with a smaller amount of virus, they sometimes can cause rabies in the inoculated animals by its residual virulence or pathogenic mutation during viral propagation in the body. New-generation rabies vaccines generated by gene manipulation although in experimental stage may be a suitable alternative to overcome the disadvantages of the live attenuated vaccines. So, awareness must be created in general public about the disease and the cell culture based vaccines available in the market should be recommended for wide scale use to prevent and control this emerging and reemerging infectious disease in foreseeable future.
狂犬病是一种致命的神经疾病，也是一个持续存在的全球性问题。它主要通过家犬传播，但其他犬科动物、鼬科动物（臭鼬和浣熊）以及翼手目动物被认为是该疾病最有效的传播媒介。由于狗是狂犬病的主要传播者，必须特别关注将所有狗，包括未经授权的流浪狗纳入免疫范围，以控制狂犬病。接种疫苗是在暴露或感染前后对抗该疾病的唯一方法，因为一旦出现症状就没有治疗方法。1885年巴斯德研制出第一种粗制神经组织疫苗后，多年来已开发出多种用于动物和人类的狂犬病疫苗，其安全性和有效性各不相同。目前，基于细胞培养的灭活狂犬病疫苗在世界大部分地区广泛使用。然而，这些疫苗对于发展中国家的人和动物接种来说过于昂贵且难以承受。相对便宜的灭活神经组织疫苗会在接种动物中引起严重的副作用，如自身免疫性脑脊髓炎，一些国家已停止生产。虽然减毒活疫苗可以用较少量的病毒有效引发保护性免疫反应，但它们有时会因其在体内病毒繁殖过程中的残余毒力或致病性突变而在接种动物中引发狂犬病。通过基因操作产生的新一代狂犬病疫苗虽然尚处于实验阶段，但可能是克服减毒活疫苗缺点的合适替代品。因此，必须提高公众对该疾病的认识，并推荐市场上现有的基于细胞培养的疫苗广泛使用，以在可预见的未来预防和控制这种新出现和再次出现的传染病。
