Biomedical subjects
Publications and source records attributed to T Wiktor.
Three children exposed to the bites of proved or probably rabid animals were immunized with human rabies immune globulin and human diploid cell culture vaccine. There were no significant clinical reactions, and all three developed high levels of rabies antibody. The patients have remained well from four to 18 months.
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An intracerebral assay technique in mice is described for testing chemical disinfectants acting on the rabies virus. The assay determines whether more than 99% of 10 000 mouse intracerebral LD(50) of virus are inactivated within 1-2(1/2) minutes. By this test, several substances usually available for the treatment of animal bite wounds were found to be effective. They are: 1%-20% soap solutions; 43%-70% alcohol; 1:1000 (0.1%) or lower dilutions of two quaternary ammonium compounds, benzalkonium chloride and cetrimonium bromide; 1:10 000 or lower dilutions of iodine; acetone; and ether.Several other substances tested for possible use in environmental disinfection were also found to be virucidal. They were: 3% caustic soda and commercial preparations of organic phenols, iodine, and a mixture of trisodium phosphate and sodium hypochlorite. No virucidal effect was exerted by a 2% aqueous solution of mercurochrome, a 1:1000 aqueous solution of thiomersal, or 3% formalin (1% formaldehyde).A number of substances that inactivate rabies virus have thus become available for local treatment of bite wounds and for environmental disinfection. The assay procedure described may be useful in testing other disinfectants and chemical substances.
Rabies is one of the oldest diseases know to man, but its successful control has remained elusive. Although effective vaccines of tissue culture origin against rabies do exist, such preparations are expensive. Live vaccinia virus (VV) recombinants expressing influenza or hepatitis B antigens have recently been used to immunize against these diseases. We have now used this approach to produce a novel rabies vaccine. We first altered the rabies glycoprotein cDNA by site-directed mutagenesis and removed the poly(dG) tail. We then aligned the modified cDNA with an early VV promoter sequence inserted within a cloned copy of the vaccinia thymidine kinase gene and transfected this plasmid into VV-infected cells. Recombination between the virus and the plasmid resulted in a recombinant virus harbouring the rabies glycoprotein cDNA. Inoculation of rabbits with the live recombinant virus induced high titres of rabies virus-neutralizing antibodies, and scarification with the recombinant VV protected mice against challenge with street rabies virus.