Abstract
Human rabies vaccines have been shown to induce partial protection against members of phylogroup I bat lyssaviruses. Here, we investigated the capacity of a widely used rabies inactivated vaccine (Rabisin, Boehringer-Ingelheim) for veterinary use to cross-protect mice experimentally infected with European bat lyssavirus 1 (EBLV-1b), European bat lyssavirus 2 (EBLV-2), and Bokeloh bat lyssavirus (BBLV) occurring in Europe. For each lyssavirus, we investigated the efficacy of two different doses of vaccine against two viral doses administrated by either central or peripheral routes. In parallel, seroconversion following pre-exposure vaccination was investigated. In this study, we demonstrated that the three investigated bat isolates were pathogenic, even at low dose, when inoculated by the central route but were not/less pathogenic when administrated peripherally. The Rabisin vaccine was capable of significantly cross-protecting mice inoculated intramuscularly with EBLV-1b and EBLV-2 and intracerebrally with BBLV. The level of rabies neutralizing antibodies induced by the Rabisin was quite high against the bat lyssaviruses, but with no significant differences between immunization with 1 and 5 IU/dose. The study emphasizes that the quality of rabies-inactivated vaccines for veterinary use is of utmost importance to optimize the cross-protection of pets against phylogroup I bat lyssaviruses occurring in Europe.
Highlights
After decades of rabies control programs, oral vaccination campaigns, and monitoring, most countries of Western, Central, and Northern Europe are free of rabies transmitted by nonflying terrestrial mammals, such as foxes and raccoon dogs [1,2]
Death occurred between 6–7 days postinfection (p.i), 7–8 days p.i, 9–11 days p.i, and 12–13 days for challenge virus standard (CVS), EBLV-1b, European bat lyssavirus 2 (EBLV-2), and Bokeloh bat lyssavirus (BBLV), respectively (Figure 1a)
Death occurred between 8–11 days p.i, 7–20 days p.i, 11–13 days p.i, and 15–23 days for EBLV-1b, CVS, EBLV-2, and BBLV, respectively
Summary
After decades of rabies control programs, oral vaccination campaigns, and monitoring, most countries of Western, Central, and Northern Europe are free of rabies transmitted by nonflying terrestrial mammals, such as foxes and raccoon dogs [1,2]. Insectivorous bats still play an important role in the circulation of lyssaviruses in Europe [3], and rabies remains a concern in regards public health. Lyssaviruses associated with European bats were only represented by a small number of species, such as the European bat lyssavirus 1 (EBLV-1) and the European bat lyssavirus 2 (EBLV-2). The majority of bat rabies cases are caused by EBLV-1, which is mainly associated with the serotine bat (Eptesicus serotinus) with 95% of the cases [5,6] and the meridional serotine (Eptesicus isabellinus) in Spain [7]. EBLV-1 circulates widely throughout Europe with two variants: variant “a” exhibiting an East–West distribution from Russia
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