Vaccination of wildlife against rabies: successful use of a vectored vaccine obtained by recombinant technology.

The impact of recombinant technology in veterinary and human medicine can only be hypothesized at this time. The development of vaccines and other biological products that go beyond the abilities of conventional products demonstrates the benefits of this new technology. Raboral V-RG was developed as an alternative rabies vaccine with the novel attribute of being effective by the oral route. Within 10 years after its first application as an experimental vaccine in European, red foxes it developed into a useful tool and is being used to curtail rabies epizootics in three wildlife species in the United States. The use of this vaccine can be considered as monumental in contributing to the control of rabies in species that were at one time considered to be incapable of vaccination in large-scale campaigns.