First rabies vaccine

1992/04/01 Elhuyar Zientzia Iturria: Elhuyar aldizkaria

• Osasuna

The French laboratory "Rhône-Mérieux" has just obtained the first rabies vaccine. With this vaccine, wild animals are expected to get vaccinated against rabies.

According to the World Health Organization, rabies causes 25,000 deaths every year. Therefore, the problem is no joke.

For a long time, researchers have tried to fight rabies. For this purpose, the use of attenuated rabies virus has been considered convenient, but in the tests carried out it has been observed that this attenuated virus has sometimes become pathogenic.

How to overcome the problem?

One of the solutions is to use only the immunizing part of the rabies virus. The name of this part is glycoprotein and is on the surface of the virus. A non-harmful virus (these viruses are called pox-virus) is then added to this substance.

In this system, the French laboratories cited at the beginning have been based. The product obtained is a combination of rabies virus and an harmless virus.

This vaccine was achieved in 1984, but so far it has been demonstrating its efficacy and stability. Once all the tests have been passed, it is already on sale in the market. In addition, for its low cost, it is possible to introduce many animals.