Rabies is still responsible for approximately 60,000 human deaths per year mostly in Asia and Africa and affects especially underserved people. Yet, since the first vaccine developed by Louis Pasteur more than 130 years ago, prophylactic measures have significantly improved. They are now composed of the vaccine allied to purified human or equine rabies immunoglobulins. However, these immunoglobulins are expensive and not easy to reach in developing settings.

Image/CDC
Researchers from the Structural Virology Unit at the Institut Pasteur, in collaboration with the Virus and Immunity Unit and the Lyssavirus Epidemiology and Neuropathology Unit, have visualized one of the most potent and most broadly neutralizing human monoclonal antibody in interaction with the rabies glycoprotein. This finding makes it possible to propose new avenues, both prophylactic and therapeutic, in the fight against rabies.
Rabies is a lethal encephalitis due to a lyssavirus mainly transmitted to humans by the bite or scratches of terrestrial carnivores (principally domestic dogs). The onset of clinical symptoms and death can be 100% prevented by adequate post-exposure prophylaxis (PEP) including vaccines and passive immunization using rabies immunoglobulins. Today, 15 to 29 million of patients exposed to rabies received the PEP each year whose terms have been updated by WHO in 2018 as a result of Institut Pasteur expertise.
“If prevention measures therefore exist today to fight rabies, supply and demand are incoherent in developing countries. The proposed treatments are not produced or not available on site” explains Félix Rey, head of the Structural Virology Unit at the Institut Pasteur.
Read more at Institut Pasteur
- Caribbean Princess outbreak: Case count tops 350, Causative agent still not known
- Triplex vaccine reduces rate of CMV complications in transplant recipients
- Coronavirus case confirmed in San Diego County, 13th case in US
- 2019-nCoV: Singapore tally now 45, China death toll tops 1,000
- Dengue health alert issued in Huila, Colombia
- New York continues to see increased seasonal flu activity
- New Hampshire: Valley fever diagnosed in a rescue dog from Arizona
One thought on “Rabies: New prophylactic and therapeutic avenues”