Meeting the urgent need for rabies education in Haiti.

The highest rate of human rabies deaths reported in the Americas is in Haiti, and most of these deaths result from rabies virus infections that occur after individuals are bitten by infected dogs and do not receive rabies post-exposure prophylaxis. One barrier to rabies prevention in Haiti is a lack of knowledge about this disease among healthcare professionals and community members. During the past 4 years, The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has collaborated with public health officials and partners to develop, test and refine educational materials aimed at filling this need for rabies education. This report summarizes the use of feedback from knowledge, attitudes and practises surveys; key informant interviews; and focus groups to develop culturally appropriate rabies prevention materials for community members, health officials, clinicians, laboratory professionals, veterinary professionals, government officials and national and local district leaders about ways to prevent rabies. These formative research methods were critically important in ensuring that the materials would be culturally appropriate and would stand the greatest likelihood of motivating Haitians to protect themselves from rabies. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is using lessons learned in Haiti to develop and test materials in other countries with high rates of canine rabies.

Enhancing comparative rabies DNA vaccine effectiveness through glycoprotein gene modifications.

Enhancing DNA vaccine effectiveness remains a challenge, especially if the desired goal is immunization efficacy after a single dose. The glycoprotein gene from the rabies virus Evelyn-Rokitnicki-Abelseth (ERA) strain was modified by mutation at amino acid residue 333 from arginine to glutamine. The modified and original unmodified glycoprotein genes were cloned separately and developed as DNA vaccines for immunization in mice. The intramuscular (IM) route using a single dose (100 microg) of a modified DNA vaccine showed virus neutralizing antibody induction by d30, and 80% of the mice survived a challenge in which 100% of unvaccinated controls succumbed. Similar results were obtained using a single dose (10 microg) by the intradermal (ID) route with one-tenth amount of the DNA administered. Administration of single dose of DNA vaccine with unmodified G did not result in the production of detectable levels of virus neutralizing antibody by d30. The results of the IM and the ID routes of administration were statistically significant (P<0.01). Based on these preliminary results, a modified glycoprotein gene from the ERA rabies virus strain may be an ideal candidate for DNA vaccine efficacy enhancement.