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Appl Environ Microbiol. 1971 September; 22(3): 428-431
Copyright © 1971 American Society for Microbiology. All Rights Reserved.

Effect of Administered Interferon on Rabies in Rabbits

The Graduate School of Public Health, University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania 15213
The Connaught Medical Research Laboratories, University of Toronto, Willowdale, Ontario

ABSTRACT

This study describes the effect of interferon on the survival of rabbits infected with a street strain of rabies virus. Interferon was prepared by collecting serum from rabbits injected with Newcastle disease virus and was characterized by biological and physicochemical methods. Rabbit serum interferon mixed and incubated with a suspension of rabies virus did not neutralize its infectivity. Rabbits were inoculated into the hind leg muscle with approximately 80 LD₅₀ of virus. Interferon was administered intravenously or intramuscularly, or by both methods, in the same or opposite leg as virus. Mortality due to rabies was significantly reduced by the concurrent administration of 8 x 10⁵ units of interferon divided between the site of virus inoculation and intravenously. There was less protection if 3 hr elapsed between the inoculation of virus and interferon. Treatment given 24 hr after infection did not prevent death but prolonged the incubation period.