Rabies Virus

Rabies is a devastating viral disease caused by the rabies lyssavirus (RABV). RABV is transmitted to humans via a bite by infected animals, predominantly dogs, but foxes, raccoons, and bat species also serve as natural reservoirs. In humans, once the first clinical symptoms have developed, the disease is uniformly lethal, and patients die in great agony. Rabies causes 58.000 human deaths every year, mostly in rural areas of Africa and Asia. The majority are children of young age (<15 years), who are at high risk from being bitten while playing with animals.

In the last quarter of 2021, we evaluated the immunogenicity of two rabies virus vaccines which were built on the backbones of the attenuated yellow fever virus vaccine strain, YFV-17D, and the Japanese encephalitis virus vaccine strain (CD-JEVAX). The first analyses show that both vaccines effectively induced humoral immunity, equal or exceeding those induced by commercially available rabies vaccines. Further analyses are ongoing, and results will become available in 2022.

In 2022, the analysis from many samples obtained from the animal study performed in 2021 have been finalized and a manuscript is being prepared for publication in 2023.