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. 2021 Mar 24;9(4):309.
doi: 10.3390/vaccines9040309.

Systematic Booster after Rabies Pre-Exposure Prophylaxis to Alleviate Rabies Antibody Monitoring in Individuals at Risk of Occupational Exposure

Perrine Parize  1 , Jérémie Sommé  2 , Laura Schaeffer  3 , Florence Ribadeau-Dumas  1 , Sheherazade Benabdelkader  1 , Agnès Durand  4 , Arnaud Tarantola  1 , Johann Cailhol  5 , Julia Goesch  5 , Lauriane Kergoat  1 , Anne-Sophie Le Guern  6 , Marie-Laurence Mousel  2 , Laurent Dacheux  1 , Paul-Henri Consigny  5 , Arnaud Fontanet  3   7 , Beata Francuz  2 , Hervé Bourhy  1
Affiliations

Systematic Booster after Rabies Pre-Exposure Prophylaxis to Alleviate Rabies Antibody Monitoring in Individuals at Risk of Occupational Exposure

Perrine Parize et al. Vaccines (Basel). .

Abstract

Pre-exposure rabies prophylaxis (PrEP) is recommended for people at frequent or increased risk of professional exposure to lyssavirus (including rabies virus). PrEP provides protection against unrecognized exposure. After the primary vaccination, one's immune response against rabies may decline over time. We aimed to evaluate the immune response to rabies in individuals immunized for occupational reasons before and after a booster dose of the rabies vaccine. With this aim, we retrospectively documented factors associated with an inadequate response in individuals vaccinated for occupational purposes. Our findings analyzed data from 498 vaccinated individuals and found that 17.2% of participants had an inadequate antibody titration documented after their primary vaccination without the booster, while inadequate response after an additional booster of the vaccine was evidenced in 0.5% of tested participants. This study showed that a single booster dose of vaccine after PrEP conferred a high and long-term immune response in nearly all individuals except for rare, low responders. A systematic rabies booster after primary vaccination may result in alleviating the monitoring strategy of post-PrEP antibody titers among exposed professionals.

Keywords: booster immunization; humoral immunity; occupational health; pre-exposure prophylaxis; rabies.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare no conflict of interest.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Study flow chart.
Figure 2
Figure 2
Percentage and number of antibody titers assessed after rabies primary vaccination by titer categories and time-lapse since primary vaccination, in individuals vaccinated for occupational purposes (n = 452), Institut Pasteur, Paris 2000–2015.
Figure 3
Figure 3
Percentage and number of antibody titers assessed after rabies primary vaccination and a single booster by titer categories and time-lapse since booster, in individuals vaccinated for occupational purposes (n = 286), Institut Pasteur, Paris 2000–2015.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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