Vaccination of young foxes (Vulpes vulpes, L.) against rabies: trials with inactivated vaccine administered by oral and parenteral routes.

Foxes aged between two and three months were vaccinated with an inactivated rabies vaccine. Three immunization procedures were attempted: a first group of animals was parenterally injected while two other groups daily ingested during ten days either an uncoated vaccine (commercially available liquid form: Rabisin) or a coated vaccine (gastro-resistant tablets) associated with a potential enteropathogenic virus (bovine rotavirus). The latter viral association was used in order to see if seroconversion can occur in these conditions. Rabies antibody titres and the length of survival postchallenge were recorded in each treated fox. Seroconversion was observed from approximately day 20 post-vaccination in two groups of cubs: satisfactory antibody titres were found in parenterally vaccinated foxes while lower titres characterized most of the cubs which ingested the uncoated liquid vaccine. Gastro-resistant tablets containing the viral association did not induce seroconversion. It was shown that bovine rotavirus did not multiply in the gut mucosa of young foxes, on the contrary to young dogs. Protection against experimental rabies was partially obtained in parenterally vaccinated foxes.