The Eficacy of SAD Vaccine-Virus in Raccoon Dogs Population in Lithuania

Abstract

Introduction. The different "SAD" oral vaccines were used in Europe to prevent rabies in red fox population, but oral vaccination programs in rabies-infected countries should not target fox rabies only, but also raccoon dog rabies. Specific investigations concerning the oral vaccination in raccoons are needed, especially in Lithuania, where rabies cases in raccoon dogs were higher than in foxes. Rabies infection among wild animals in Lithuania constitutes a well known problem, but the aspects about the molecular features of rabies virus in Lithuania have not previously been documented. Consequently, the objectives of this work were to determine nucleo- and glycoprotein genes sequences, genetically characterize the raccoon dog rabies virus isolates and to evaluate the quality of the ORV, including efficacy (TTC markers and ELISA antibodies seroconversion) of SAD Bern viruses of rabies oral vaccination (ORV) in Lithuanian raccoon dog population during 2006-2010 period. Material and methods. Perl Primer (v1.1.19) program for primer construction was used. Gel-purified PCR products will be sequenced using the BigDye Sequencing Kit (Applied Biosystems, Warrington, UK). [...].