RabAvert (Chiron), a new human rabies vaccine prepared in purified chick embryo cell culture has been marketed in the USA for pre- and post-exposure prophylaxis. Human rabies is rare in the United States, but thousands of people receive post-exposure prophylaxis every year at an average cost of $700 per series. All rabies vaccines available for human use in the USA are prepared in cell culture and are much safer than rabies vaccines prepared from infected animal brains, which are still used in some developing countries. The widely used Imovax vaccine has, however, been associated with a 6% incidence of serum-sickness-like hypersensitivity to booster doses.

The new rabies vaccine (RabAvert ) prepared in purified chick embryo cell culture appears to be as effective as previously available rabies vaccines, without causing the serum-sickness-like hypersensitivity reactions sometimes seen with booster doses of the current vaccine.

(The Medical Letter 1998; 40:64-65)