Safety and efficacy of the oral rabies vaccine SAG2 in raccoon dogs.

Oral vaccination programmes in several rabies-infected countries from Northern and Eastern Europe should not be restricted to foxes but should target raccoon dogs as well. The safety, immunogenicity and efficacy of Rabigen SAG2 bait was evaluated in raccoon dogs. Safety of SAG2 was demonstrated after direct instillation (n = 5) or ingestion of a bait (n = 5) using a quantity of virus at least 10 times superior to the field dose. All animals seroconverted and remained healthy. Raccoon dogs were vaccinated by SAG2 bait ingestion and unvaccinated raccoon dogs were kept as controls. More than 6 months after oral vaccination, all animals were challenged with a highly virulent street rabies virus. All 28 vaccinated animals developed high rabies neutralizing antibody titres. After virulent challenge, all 11 controls succumbed to rabies, whereas all 28 vaccinates survived.