Rabies Challenge Fund

www.rabieschallengefund.org

downloadable pdf file: Rabies Challenge Fund flyer

downloadable pdf file: Rabies Challenge Fund Press Release

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Dated:

World-Famous Scientists Donate Services to
The Rabies Challenge Fund Charitable Trust

CONTACTS:
Dr. W. Jean Dodds, DVM (Hemopet)
Co-Trustee, Rabies Challenge Fund Rabies Challenge Fund
Phone: (310) 828-4804, fax: (310) 828-8251
hemopet@hotmail.com

Kris L. Christine, Founder and Co-Trustee
Phone: (207) 586-5043
ledgespring@lincoln.midcoast.com

Dr. Ronald Schultz, University of Wisconsin School of Veterinary Medicine
Phone: (608)263-9888 or (608) 263-8791
MANNINGJ@SVM.VETMED.WISC.EDU


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."

More information on The Rabies Challenge Fund and the concurrent 5 and 7 year challenge studies it will finance can be found at the fund’s newly established website designed by volunteer Andrea Brin at:
www.rabieschallengefund.org.

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related news articles:

Nationwide Campaign Launched to Fund Rabies Vaccine Study
Maine Lincoln County News - Story date: 09/21/2005


Get out your wallets! Rabies Challenge fund a reality
A Dog's Life Blog
Maine Today - November 20, 2006

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related post on rabies info - coming sometime!