Pre-exposure vaccination with purified chick embryo cell rabies vaccines in children.

Children who have close contact with rabid dogs, with a history of neither being bitten nor scratched nor licked on broken skin or on mucous membranes were given purified chick embryo rabies vaccine as pre-exposure prophylaxis. Thirteen children received 0.5 ml of the vaccine, while 12 children received 1 ml of the vaccine intramuscularly on days 0, 7 and 28. The rabies antibody level was measured by a standard mouse neutralization test. Before vaccination, all vaccinees had no detectable level of antibody to rabies. On day 14, all children had antibody levels higher than 0.5 IU/ml; the titer peaked from day 28 to day 56 and then was lower on day 90. Children of the 1 ml group had antibody levels higher than the 0.5 ml group, but there was no statistically significant difference. No serious reaction occurred. At 2-3 years of follow up, all children were doing well.