Vaccine potency testing is necessary to evaluate the immunogenicity of inactivated rabies virus (RABV) vaccine preparations before human or veterinary application. Currently, the NIH test is recommended by the WHO expert committee to evaluate RABV vaccine potency. However, numerous disadvantages are inherent concerning cost, number of animals and biosafety requirements. As such, several in vitr...

The outbreak of human infections of a novel avian influenza virus A (H7N9) prompted the development of the vaccines against this virus. Like all types of influenza vaccines, H7N9 vaccine must be tested for its potency prior to being used in humans. However, the unavailability of international reference reagents for the potency determination of H7N9 vaccines substantially hinders the progress in...

An experimental inactivated oil-emulsion H9N2 avian influenza vaccine was formulated with 3 parts ofinactivated avian influenza antigen A/Chicken/Iran/101/1998(H9N2) emulsified in 7 parts of oil adjuvant.Twelve week-old specific pathogen-free (SPF) chickens were divided into seven groups of 10 birds. Sixgroups were vaccinated with 1, 1/10th, 1/50th, 1/100th, 1/200th and 1/400th field dose of th...

BACKGROUND The single radial immunodiffusion (SRID) assay, the accepted method for determining potency of inactivated influenza vaccines, measures an immunogenic form of the influenza hemagglutinin. Nevertheless, alternative methods for measuring vaccine potency have been explored to address some of the weaknesses of the SRID assay, including limited sensitivity and the requirement for large am...

When stored at 4 C, or heated at 22 or 35 C followed by storage at 4 C, the potency of pertussis vaccines preserved with Merthiolate was more stable than the potency of vaccines preserved with benzethonium chloride or the parabens (methyl- and propyl-p-hydroxybenzoate). Without preservative, potency was more stable than in the presence of benzethonium chloride or the parabens, but less stable t...

BACKGROUND Influenza vaccines are effective in protecting against illness and death caused by this seasonal pathogen. The potency of influenza vaccines is measured by single radial immunodiffusion (SRID) assay that quantifies antigenic forms of hemagglutinin (HA). Hydrostatic pressure results in loss of binding of influenza virus to red blood cells, but it is not known whether this infers loss ...

Hepatitis B Diminsky D, Moav N, Gorecki M, Barenholz Y. Physical, chemical and immunological stability of CHO-derived hepatitis B surface antigen (HBsAg) particles. Vaccine 1999;18:3-17. Recombinant hepatitis B surface antigen were stored at various conditions for 12-18 months in the naked form (HBsAg) or adsorbed to alum (HBV vaccine). HBsAg particles fully retained the original peptide compos...

The advent of mass vaccination has saved millions of human lives and revolutionized the quality of life. Vaccination is currently one of the most cost effective ways of managing healthcare costs in both emerging and developed countries. Despite the long vaccine history and success, design and development of efficacious and safe vaccines has been traditionally semi-empirical. This is mainly due ...