Interesting stuff, Greg. The Poms brought rabbits and foxes to Australia
almost as soon as they found the place. They wanted to play their little
hunting game and cuddle the cute bunnies to remind them of 'home'. As a
result we're overrun with the pests. If any of you North American gentlemen
happen to be in a rural Oz pub at any time and mention what nice little
animals either species are you'd better duck. Our farmers tend to reach for
fox-notched shotguns when they hear mention of them.
Australia is rabies free.
John,
Sydney, Oz.
-----Original Message-----
From: GMcGrath@xxxxxxx
As a veterinarian, I guess I ought to chime in on this. More than you want
to
know about rabies vaccine:
The vaccine is available to be given as pre-exposure vaccination for people
who might need it in their line of work (such as me), or post-exposure in
the
case of a known or suspect bite.
The current vaccine is grown on a human diploid cell line in culture (the
culture of substrate cells has twice the normal number of human chromosomes,
harvested from a lady's tumor many years ago, forgot what the type was). The
old
vaccine was grown on chicken eggs, could cause allergic reactions in people
who
were allergic to chickens, and wasn't very effective for many people. I had
three doses of the old vaccine when I was in veterinary school, and didn't
develop a protective level of antibodies. We were then given a single dose
of the
new vaccine and I developed a very good titer. The new vaccine is given as a
two-dose series for pre-exposure immunization and a five-dose series for
post-exposure, standard IM injection in the arm, etc. The idea for
post-exposure
vaccination is to try to stimulate enough antibodies to neutralize an active
infection.
Rabies is almost always fatal in humans who develop symptoms, but some
people
have survived, frequently with permanent nervous system problems.
Greg
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