Oral rabies vaccine: evaluation of its infectivity in three species of rodents.

The safety of oral rabies vaccine was evaluated in 3 species of rodents, animals which might inadvertently consume field-distributed vaccine baits intended for foxes. The potentials for infection from bait ingestion and transmission through cannibalism were evaluated. Results indicate that ingestion of the vaccine baits used in these experiments will result in infection and disease of some rodents. Of 64 rodents which ate baits, 19 (30%) died of clinical rabies; the diagnosis was confirmed in 11 (17%), and 2 (3%) had demonstrable rabies virus in their salivary glands. Only 3 of 112 (3%) rodents that ate vaccine-infected rodents contracted rabies, and none had demonstrable virus in their salivary glands.