Increased mortality in mice infected with rabies virus and subsequently vaccinated against rabies

When mice infected 1 or 2 days before by an IM inoculation after high passage of the virus in the species ("challenge virus standard" strain) received an injection of live (Flury) or inactivated virus, their mortality was increased in comparison with unvaccinated controls. In the case of the inactivated virus vaccine, mortality was proportional to the dose of vaccine received. Conversely, when vaccination was carried out in mice recently infected with the same doses of a heterologous strain adapted to foxes, this phenomenon could not be demonstrated. The consequences of these observations on failures of treatment in animals infected with a homologous strain, cases of rabies occurring after vaccination or quality control of vaccines are discussed.