Neurologic complications of Semple-type rabies vaccine: clinical and immunologic studies

We studied 61 patients with complications of Semple-type postexposure rabies immunization. Thirty-six had neurologic signs, and 25 had only fever, headache, or myalgia. Thirty-two patients had CNS complications, and 4 had an acute peripheral neuropathy. Disease was acute and monophasic in 33, but 3 patients had progressive disease, including 1 patient with a relapsing-remitting course. No clinical features, including CSF content of myelin basic protein, were prognostic indicators. In three of six patients with encephalomyelitis, lymphocytes showed a proliferative response to myelin.