1992 Volume 45 Issue 10 Pages 796-798
Persistence of antibodies against rabies virus was studied in house-held dogs vaccinated with an inactivated tissue culture rabies vaccine. Moreover, neutralizing antibody (NAb) titers to rabies virus were surveyed in 942 sera collected from house-held dogs in Fukuoka city during a 1986-1989 period and in 149 sera collected from retained stray dogs in Kumamoto and Miyazaki prefectures during a 1986-1987 period.
The geometric mean NAb titers at 1, 6, and 12 months postvaccination were 1: 137.2, 1: 59.3, and 1: 26.0, respectively. All of the serum samples collected at 12 months post-vaccination retained a NAb titer level of 1: 4 or more.
The geometric mean NAb titers in house-held dogs and retained stray dogs were 1: 18.4 and 1: 6.0, respectively. The difference in the titer was statistically significant. The rate of serum samples showing NAb titer of 1: 4 or more was 62.4% in the house-held dogs, and the rate was significantly higher than that in the retained ones (31.5%).