Vaccine-induced rabies case in a cow (Bos taurus): Molecular characterisation of vaccine strain in brain tissue

Vlad Vuta (1) , Evelyne Picard-Meyer (2) , Emmanuelle Robardet (2) , Gheorghe Barboi (1) , Razvan Motiu (3) , Florica Barbuceanu (3, 1) , Constantin Vlagioiu (3) , Florence Cliquet (2)

1 Institute for Diagnosis and Animal Health
2 LRFSN - Laboratoire de la rage et de la faune sauvage de Nancy
3 University of Agronomic Study and Veterinary Medicine Bucharest

Rabies is a fatal neuropathogenic zoonosis caused by the rabies virus of the Lyssavirus genus, Rhabdoviridae family. The oral vaccination of foxes - the main reservoir of rabies in Europe - using a live attenuated rabies virus vaccine was successfully conducted in many Western European countries. In July 2015, a rabies vaccine strain was isolated from the brain tissues of a clinically suspect cow (Bos taurus) in Romania. The nucleotide analysis of both N and G gene sequences showed 100% identity between the rabid animal, the GenBank reference SAD B19 strain and five rabies vaccine batches used for the national oral vaccination campaign targeting foxes.

Keywords: Rabies; Fox; Vaccine; Pathogenicity; Sequencing; SAD B19

Domains: Life Sciences [q-bio]; Life Sciences [q-bio]; Animal biology; Veterinary medicine and animal Health; Life Sciences [q-bio]; Microbiology and Parasitology; Virology

Vlad Vuta, Evelyne Picard-Meyer, Emmanuelle Robardet, Gheorghe Barboi, Razvan Motiu, et al.. Vaccine-induced rabies case in a cow (Bos taurus): Molecular characterisation of vaccine strain in brain tissue. Vaccine, 2016, 34 (41), pp.5021-5025. ⟨10.1016/j.vaccine.2016.08.013⟩. ⟨anses-03433242⟩