[Results of preventive rabies vaccination with a concentrated vaccine of the PM/WI38-1503-3M rabies strain cultured on human diploid cells. Preparation of mixed antirabies-antitetanus hyperimmune immunoglobulin by plasmapheresis of blood taken from vaccinated veterinary students].

Many thousands of people in France and abroad have already benefited from preventive rabies vaccination by means of a vaccine obtained from culture on human diploid cells, perfected ten years ago by R. Lang, the Institut Mérieux and the Wistar Institute. In addition to being well tolerated, the serological efficacy of this vaccine is such that 100% of the vaccines observed had a seroconversion after only two injections at an interval of one month. However, a booster dose should be given 6 to 12 months after the first injection, and a further booster 3 to 5 years later or on request in case of known contamination. These boosters, combined with an anti-tetanus booster, induce such high antibody titers--between 10-100 and even 1000 I.U./ml--that it is easy to obtain substantial batches of combined anti-rabies and anti-tetanus immunoglobulin from a small number of volunteers. The complete efficacy of this new vaccine reduces the number of systematic post-vaccinal serologic controls and its innocuity is such that an extended preventive vaccination programme may be carried out, for instance in the case of children living in areas known to be dangerous.