ABSTRACT
Rabies remains an important public health problem in the world due to uncontrolled enzootic rabies. Although rabies associated fatalities may be prevented with timely immunoprophylaxis, but till date a therapeutic molecule has remained elusive. We investigated the role of rhuIFN α-2a in murine model challenged with rabies virus. Titre of 104.25 LD50/0.03 ml of 10% w/v RV CVS stock suspension were obtained. Based on 1LD50 titre, challenge dose of 50 LD50 was administered along with rhuIFN α-2a with pre-exposure (primed) and post-exposure with the rabies virus. Both showed increased survival time as compared with the virus controls. These fi ndings suggest that the rhuIFN α-2a might have some anti-viral activity, which can be used for the treatment of rabies infection. Further research on the effi cacy of interferon along with anti-viral drugs for the treatment will be helpful in designing combination therapy against the disease.