Further studies on rabies postexposure prophylaxis in mice: a comparison of vaccine with interferon and vaccine.

Mice were inoculated in the left hind footpad with street rabies virus, and 24 h later various types of rabies vaccine were administered intramuscularly in the right leg. The vaccines alone were ineffective in reducing mortality, but when an interferon inducer, polyriboinosinic acid-polyribocytidylic acid complexed to poly-L-lysine (polyICLC), was given along with the vaccines, a marked reduction resulted. The polyICLC-vaccine combination was effective even when it was injected 5 days after infection, suggesting that effective postexposure treatment in man might be successful when given at a comparable late time.