Immunogenicity and efficacy of non-adjuvant tissue culture-based rabies vaccine produced in Ethiopia

Rabies is 100% fatal, but it is preventable. More than 95% of human rabies cases occur in improperly treated individuals. This is partly due to the fact that modern post-exposure rabies prophylaxis is expensive and therefore not readily available in many endemic regions. Nervous tissue vaccine has been in use for more than 100yrs. These vaccines have now been superseded in purity, potency, immunogenicity and safety. The efficacy and immunogenicity of inactivated tissue culture rabies vaccine, produced in Ethiopia was evaluated. Twelve experimental dogs from local breed were duly conditioned during a quarantine period and assigned to two groups randomly. Animals in group I (cases) were vaccinated subcutaneously with 1 ml of our experimental vaccine. Dogs in group II served as non-vaccinated controls. The immune response of each dog was monitored for 90 days. On the day 90 after final sampling, all dogs were challenged in the masseter muscle with a rabies street virus of canine origin. To evaluate the titer of the rabies virus neutralizing antibodies (VNA), sera were analyzed by Fluorescent Antibody Virus Neutralization (FAVN) Test. Geometric Mean Titers (GMT) to rabies virus was determined at days 7, 15, 21, 30, 60 and 90. Geometric mean titers were equal to 1.59, 1.73, 2.19, 3.58, 3.17 and 3.35 IU/ml respectively. All dogs showed VNA titers higher than the 0.5 IU/ml mandated WHO recommended threshold. All vaccinated dogs, survived the challenge. In contrast, 83.3% of dogs in the control (non-vaccinated group), developed rabies and died. This study indicated that cell culture-based anti-rabies developed inhouse, with no adjuvant is efficacious and immunogenic

Production of Cell Culture Based Anti- rabies Vaccine in Ethiopia

AbstractPrevention and control of rabies in the world will require international efforts to increase the availability and use of high quality cell-culture rabies vaccines for use in human and veterinary. An important aspect of activities to ensure such availability is transfer of technologies to developing countries for production of these vaccines. Methods for Rabies Virus manipulation have changed fundamentally from random attenuation to defined modifications. In 2001, WHO issued a resolution for the complete replacement of nerve tissue vaccines by 2006 with cell-culture rabies vaccines. However, sheep brain derived Fermi type rabies vaccine is still being manufactured and utilized for the majority of exposed patients in Ethiopia. Therefore, production of a safer and effective cell culture based anti-rabies vaccine is needed. Currently the Ethiopian government has heavily invested in upgrading the facilities required to produce a rabies vaccine in keeping with WHO recommendation. Rabies virus suspensions were obtained from vero cells cultivated on roller bottles after infection with the Pasteur virus strain (PV) and Evelyn Rokitniki Abelseth (ERA). Initially the titer of the obtained virus and multiplicity of infection of the viruses had to be optimized; therefore in rabies virus infected cultures, higher virus yields was obtained when infected with 0.001ERA virus/cell and incubated at 37°C in 5% CO2 for 96hr and 0.01PV/cell incubated at 37°C in 5% CO2 for 48hr. Based on the results it is conclude that, ERA virus 0.001ID/cell with incubation period of 96h and was selected as best titer for rabies vaccine production

Post COVID-19 vaccination side effects and associated factors among vaccinated health care providers in Oromia region, Ethiopia in 2021

Background Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS COV-2) known as COVID-19 since its outbreak in 2019, more than 375 and 5.6 million were infected and dead, respectively. Its influence in all disciplines stimulated different industries to work day to night relentlessly to develop safe and effective vaccines to reduce the catastrophic effect of the disease. With the increasing number of people globally who have been vaccinated, the reports on possible adverse events have grown and gained great public attention. This study aims to determine post-COVID-19 vaccination adverse effects and associated factors among vaccinated Health care providers in the Oromia region, Ethiopia in 2021. Methods A cross-sectional study was conducted among 912 health care workers working in government hospitals in the central Oromia region from November 20 to December 15/2021. Respondents absent from work due to different reasons were excluded during the interview. The outcome variable was COVID-19 side effects (response as Yes/No). A descriptive analysis displayed findings in the form of the frequencies and percentages, and logistic regression was employed to see the association of different variables with side effects experienced. Result Overall, 92.1% of the participants experienced side effects either in 1st or 2nd doses of post-COVID-19 vaccination; 84.0% and (71.5%) of participants experienced at least one side effect in the 1st and 2nd dose of the vaccines, respectively. COVID-19 infection preventive protocols like keeping distance, hand wash using soap, wearing mask and using sanitizer were decreased post vaccination. About 74.3% of the respondents were worried about the adverse effects of the COVID-19 vaccine they received. The majority (80.2%) of the respondent felt fear while receiving the vaccine and 22.5% of the respondents suspect the effectiveness of the vaccine they took. About 14.8% of the vaccinated Health workers were infected by COVID-19 post-vaccination. Engaging in moderate physical activity and feeling fear when vaccinated were the independent factors associated with reported side effects of post-COVID-19 vaccination using multiple logistic regression. Respondents who did not engage in physical activity were 7.54 fold more likely to develop post-COVID-19 vaccination side effects compared to those who involved at least moderate-intensity physical activity[AOR = 7.54, 95% CI;2.46,23.12]. The odds of experiencing side effects among the respondents who felt fear when vaccinated were 10.73 times compared not felt fear (AOR = 10.73, 95% CI; 2.47,46.64), and similarly, those who felt little fear were 4.28 times more likely to experience side effects(AOR = 4.28, 95% CI; 1.28, 14.39). Conclusion Significant numbers of the respondents experienced side effects post COVID-19 vaccination. It is recommended to provide pre-awareness about the side effects to reduce observed anxiety related to the vaccine. It is also important to plan monitoring and evaluation of the post-vaccine effect using standard longitudinal study designs to measure the effects directly

Respondents practice to protect COVID-19 infections pre and post COVID-19 vaccination for the study of post COVID-19 vaccine evaluations in Oromia region, Ethiopia, 2021.

Respondents practice to protect COVID-19 infections pre and post COVID-19 vaccination for the study of post COVID-19 vaccine evaluations in Oromia region, Ethiopia, 2021.</p

Socio-demographic characteristics of respondents with comorbidities for the study of post COVID-19 vaccine evaluations in Oromia region, Ethiopia, 2021.

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Chronic health problems of the respondents for the study of post COVID-19 vaccine evaluations in Oromia region, Ethiopia, 2021.

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Perceptions related to COVID-19 vaccine and Re-infection among participants for the study of COVID-19 Vaccine complication evaluations in central Oromia region, Ethiopia, 2021.

Perceptions related to COVID-19 vaccine and Re-infection among participants for the study of COVID-19 Vaccine complication evaluations in central Oromia region, Ethiopia, 2021.</p

Respondents behavioral factors for the study of post COVID-19 vaccine evaluations in Oromia region, Ethiopia, 2021.

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Reasons not willing to take the 2nd dose of COVID-19 vaccine among health professionals for the study of post COVID-19 vaccine complication evaluations in central Oromia region, Ethiopia, 2021.

Reasons not willing to take the 2nd dose of COVID-19 vaccine among health professionals for the study of post COVID-19 vaccine complication evaluations in central Oromia region, Ethiopia, 2021.</p

Participants self-reported COVID-19 vaccine side effects for the study of post COVID-19 vaccine evaluations in Oromia region, Ethiopia, 2021.

Participants self-reported COVID-19 vaccine side effects for the study of post COVID-19 vaccine evaluations in Oromia region, Ethiopia, 2021.</p