Neurological complications of rabies vaccine; report of two cases.

Abstract

WHEN Louis Pasteur 1 successfully prevented the appearance of rabies in Joseph Meister (1885) following the bite of a rabid dog, new hope was offered to persons who previously would have been condemned to certain death. However, in the years that followed it became apparent that the use of rabies vaccines was not without risk. Reports of various reactions, some fatal, began to accumulate in the literature, and the etiologic factors in these complications became a subject of dispute, which continues until the present day, some 64 years after the development of Pasteur's treatment. The current literature reveals the difficulties in completely reporting each case of complications following antirabies therapy. Certain details are usually lacking; i. e., permission for necropsy may have been refused, the biting animal may not have been caught, the type of vaccine or the dosage may not have been known or an adequate history of the