Clinical trial with an anti-rabies human diploid cell vaccine (HDCV)

A clinical trial with an anti-rabies human diploid cell vaccine (HDCV) Mérieux, has been carried out by the Government Central Laboratories and the District Health Office, Ministry of Health, Jerusalem, Israel, on 25 persons bitten by stray dogs and cats. These bitten persons were given 6 injections of the above-mentioned vaccine on days 0, 3, 7, 14, 30 and 90 post-exposure. A through medical examination was carried out by a qualified physician in order to establish the local and systemic side effects. These side effects were trivial and were mostly observed with the third and fourth injections. In addition a neutralization test on mice was carried out with all sera taken on the days of injection. There was a prompt and adequate development of neutralizing antibodies even on the seventh day after the beginning of treatment, and before the fourth injection. In several cases there was a very high level of neutralizing antibodies even reaching as much as 500 I.U./ml. In conclusion these results have shown that the diploid cell vaccine is a very safe immunogenic vaccine and the authors recommend its use for pre- and post-exposure.