World-Famous
Scientists Donate Services to
The
Rabies Challenge Fund Charitable Trust
Some big news for The Rabies Challenge Fund
Charitable Trust: thanks to graphic designer, Andrea Brin,
it now has its own website at
http://www.rabieschallengefund.org/ .
If you read the text of the press release below, you'll see the
other big news is that Dr. Ronald Schultz of the
University of Wisconsin School of Veterinary Medicine has
volunteered his time to conduct the 5 and 7 year canine rabies
challenge studies. Dr. Schultz's research forms part of the
scientific base for the American Animal Hospital Association's 2003
and 2006 Canine Vaccine Guidelines. The December 2006/January 2007
(Vol. 8, Issue 6)
Animal Wellness Magazine
features an article by Ann Brightman on
the RCF entitled,
How Often Does He REALLY Need a Rabies
Shot?
Since last year, Dr. W. Jean Dodds,
of Hemopet and Co-Trustee of The Rabies Challenge Fund
Charitable Trust, and her staff have donated their time to ensure
these vital studies are conducted for the benefit of our canine
companions.
Two world-renowned giants of veterinary vaccine
research -- Dr. W. Jean Dodds of Hemopet and Co-Trustee of
The Rabies Challenge Fund and Dr. Ronald Schultz of the
University of Wisconsin School of Veterinary Medicine -- have
volunteered their time to ensure that critical 5 and 7 year rabies
challenge studies are conducted in the United States. The studies are
to be financed by The Rabies Challenge Fund Charitable Trust, a
tax-exemption organization founded by pet vaccine disclosure advocate
Kris L. Christine of Maine in 2005, and will be performed by Dr. Schultz
at the University of Wisconsin. The University has waived its usual 48%
overhead fee for these studies.
The concurrent challenge studies will determine the
duration of immunity conveyed by the canine rabies vaccine, with the
goal of extending the state-mandated interval for boosters to 5, and
then to 7 years. According to Dr. Dodds, “This
is one of the most important projects in veterinary medicine. It will
benefit all dogs by providing evidence that protection from rabies
vaccination lasts at least 5 years, thereby avoiding unnecessary
revaccination with its attendant risk of debilitating adverse reactions.
"
Scientific data indicate that vaccinating dogs against
rabies every three years, as most states require, is unnecessary.
Studies have shown the duration of protective immunity as measured by
serum antibody titers against rabies virus to persist for seven years
post-vaccination, and results of a 1992 French challenge study led by
Michel Aubert demonstrated dogs were immune to rabies five years after
vaccination.
Researchers believe the rabies vaccine causes the most and worst adverse
reactions in animals and concur that it should not be given more often
than is necessary to maintain immunity.
Adverse reactions to rabies vaccination can include autoimmune diseases
affecting the thyroid, joints, blood, eyes, skin, kidney, liver, bowel
and central nervous system; anaphylactic shock; aggression; seizures;
epilepsy; and fibrosarcomas at injection sites.
Dr. Schultz states that
“[s]howing that a vaccine for rabies can provide 5 or preferably 7 years
of immunity would have great significance not only in controlling rabies
but more importantly in reducing the adverse vaccine reactions that can
occur in dogs and cats after vaccination."
