|
Human rabies vaccine - Supply
concerns and response (May 31, 2008)
Rabies vaccine supply situation - April 1, 2009
There is a current problem with the
availability of rabies vaccine for human use in the United States. The
shortage was announced during the third week of May and is expected to
last until July 2008.
There are only two licensed human
rabies vaccine manufacturers in the US. The products are human diploid
cell vaccine (HDCV, Imovax® Rabies, sanofi pasteur), and purified chick
embryo cell vaccine (PCECV, RabAvert®, Novartis Vaccines and
Diagnostics).
Human rabies vaccine is used to
prevent the disease after an exposure to rabies. This is called human
rabies post-exposure prophylaxis and consists of one dose of human
rabies immune globulin (20 IU/kg at the site of exposure) administered
on day 0 of the schedule and one dose of vaccine intramuscularly in the
upper arm on days 0, 3, 7, 14, and 28.
Human rabies vaccine is also used for
pre-exposure prophylaxis in persons who are in high-risk groups, such as
veterinarians and their staff, animal handlers, rabies researchers, and
certain laboratory workers. Pre-exposure vaccination may also be
appropriate for persons in frequent contact with potentially rabid bats,
raccoons, skunks, cats, dogs, or other high rabies-risk species. In
addition, some international travelers should consider pre-exposure
vaccination if they are likely handle animals especially where dog
rabies is enzootic and immediate access to appropriate medical care,
including rabies vaccine and immune globulin, might be limited.
In order to preserve our ability to
prevent rabies in exposed persons, all currently available vaccine from
the two manufacturers is being reserved for post-exposure prophylaxis.
If pre-exposure prophylaxis is
medically indicated for a person (see above), a healthcare provider will
not be able to obtain vaccine for this purpose during this time of
restricted supply. At the College of Veterinary Medicine, we are working
closely with our State and Federal contacts to assist in the
prioritization of need and to facilitate appropriate medical care for
persons in urgent need of pre-exposure prophylaxis.
If you have
additional questions, please feel free to contact us at:
e-mail address: rabies@vet.ksu.edu
phone number: 785-532-4483
website: www.ksvdl.org/rabies
Key Resources:
Human Rabies Prevention – United
States, 2008 Recommendations of the Advisory Committee on Immunization
Practices
http://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/pdf/rr/rr57e507.pdf
Compendium of Animal Rabies
Prevention and Control, 2008
http://www.nasphv.org/Documents/RabiesCompendium.pdf
For more information on the
restricted supply of human rabies vaccine, please refer to the Centers
for Disease Control and Prevention website.
http://www.cdc.gov/rabies/news/2008-05-20_PreEVax.html
|