In Vivo and in Vitro Characterization of a Vaccine Rabies Strain Isolated from Field

Rabies is a fatal acute viral zoonosis, causing 62,000 human deaths every year. The oral rabies vaccination (ORV) programs of foxes, the main reservoir of rabies in Europe, are the most effective tools to control and finally to eradicate the disease. In order to characterize by in vivo and in vitro assays a vaccine rabies strain isolated from a rabid cattle following the ORV program, it has been used BHK21, N2a cell line and mice inoculation test. The results showed that the vaccine strain is able to grow on BHK21 cells, like an attenuated live vaccine, as well as on N2a cell line, usually used for diagnosis, while wild rabies strains from naturally infection were isolated on N2a cells only. The intra-cerebrally inoculated mice with vaccine strain developed disease signs and died in 12 days, one day later than inoculated mice with a local strain virus from natural infection.