Evaluation of post-exposure vaccination against rabies in cattle

Post-exposure vaccination of bovines against rabies with three anti-rabies vaccines viz. BHK21 cell culture inactivated vaccine. "Raksharab", Vero cell culture vaccine and Semple's vaccine was studied with different schedules of vaccination. The mean RFFIT and ELISA titres of animals vaccinated with Raksharab and Vero cell culture vaccine reached a peak 95 days post-exposure (dpe). The animals vaccinated with Semple's vaccine showed maximum RFFIT and ELISA titres on 40 dpe and the titres were lower than those induced by tissue culture rabies vaccines. All the calves vaccinated with Raksharab and Vero cell culture vaccine were protected. One out of six calves vaccinated with Semple's vaccine died of rabies on 16 dpe. All the control animals died of rabies between 14 and 22 dpe. Raksharab schedule of vaccination on days 0, 4, 7, 14, 28 and 90 dpe was effective when compared with other vaccines with similar and different schedules. Tissue culture rabies vaccine is superior to nervous tissue vaccine in eliciting satisfactory immune response required to protect animals exposed to virulent rabies virus.