Enteric inoculation with ERA rabies virus: evaluation of a candidate wildlife vaccine in laboratory rodents.

A series of experiments on the safety and efficacy of enteric vaccination was carried out in laboratory rodents using the ERA strain of rabies virus both live and inactivated. In the first and second experiments in white Norway rats, several methods of inoculation were compared for the development of rabies neutralizing antibody. In later experiments, the potential for disease transmission through salivary excretion of ERA strain, or through scavenging, or cannibalism were evaluated. Enteric inoculation of rats with high doses of live ERA virus often failed to give an antibody response yet would occasionally kill adult animals. Rabies antigen was demonstrable in the trigeminal ganglion and tongue of one of these rats, and 14 of 65 (21.5 percent) adult mice died from rabies after eating infants infected with the ERA strain.