Stability of rabies suckling mouse brain vaccine stored at different temperatures.

Rabies in man and animals continues to be a serious problem for public health and the livestock economy in most countries of Latin America and the Caribbean (I). Between 1980 and 1985 this area had a total of 1,744 registered rabies cases in humans, 83,858 in dogs, 6,876 in cats, and 28,800 in cattlealthough a considerable share of the bovine cases are usually not reported (2). According to data submitted by the countries of Latin America and the Caribbean to the Pan American Zoonoses Center in Buenos Aires, Argentina, during 1985 these countries prepared more than 5.2 million doses of suckling mouse brain (SMB) vaccine at 19 off&l production laboratories for the immunization of three million people, this being about the number requiring rabies treatment annually. In addition, in that same year official and private laboratories produced around 25 million doses of antirabies vaccine for veterinary use, 87 % of which were SMB vaccine (3).