1FGI Federal Centre for Animal Health, Vladimir, Russia 2Finnish Food Safety Authority Evira 3Helsin

1
1FGI Federal Centre for Animal Health, Vladimir,
Russia2Finnish Food Safety Authority
Evira3Helsinki University, Helsinki, Finland

• FINNISH-RUSSIAN COLLABORATION PROGRAMME ON RABIES
  CONTROL IN WILDLIFE THE OUTCOME OF FIVE YEARS
  AND THE FUTURE PROSPECTS
  
• Metlin A.E1,2,3., Rybakov S.S1., Gruzdev K.N1.,
• Mikhalishin V.V1., Huovilainen A2., Neuvonen E2.
• artem.metlin_at_inbox.ru

2
Rabies situation in Finland

• Finland is a rabies-free country since 1991
• The last sylvatic rabies epidemic in Finland took
  place in 1988-1989 (the main wild vector
  raccoon dogs)
  
• Oral anti-rabies vaccination of wild carnivores
  started in 1988
  
• Since 1989 only 1 case of rabies (horse imported
  from Estonia) was recorded in 2003 .

3
Rabies situation in Russia

• Russia is endemic for rabies for a long time
• Rabies cases in wild, domestic and farm animals
  are recorded every year
  
• A few rabies cases in humans are recorded
  annually
  
• Oral anti-rabies vaccination is conducted in a
  few regions non-systematically.

4
The number of animal rabies cases in the Russian
Federation for the last 8 years
5
Number of animal rabies cases in the Russian
Federation in 2006
6
In the frames of the program the following work
was done

• Rabies monitoring in Russian regions bordering
  Finland
  
• Arrangement of anti-rabies buffer zone on the
  Finnish-Russian border using oral vaccines
  
• Safety and immunogenisity testing of oral
  anti-rabies vaccines
  
• Collection and antigenic and genetic
  characterization of the field rabies viruses
  
• Entire genome sequencing and genetic
  characterisation of vaccine strain RV-97
  
• Differentiation of vaccine and field strains with
  restriction and Real-Time PCR
  

7
Anti-rabies vaccination area on the
Finnish-Russian border
8
Comparison of immunogenicity of oral anti-rabies
vaccines
9
Vaccine study

• Fuchsoral vaccine was found more immunogenic
• Both vaccines were found safe when 10 fold dose
  of vaccine virus was administrated to animals
  
• Vaccinated animals survived after the challenge
  with the field rabies virus strain while control
  animals died.

10
Monoclonal antibody characterization of rabies
viruses(panel of 5 antinucleocapsid monoclonal
antibodies was kindly donated by Dr J. Cox,
Wusterhausen, Germany)
11
Geographical distribution of the antigenic
variants revealed among the viruses studied
12
Genetic study with field rabies viruses and
vaccine strains

• Brain samples of 35 rabid animals
• 14 regions of Russia, including North Western,
  Western, Southern, Caucasian, Central and
  Siberian parts of the Russian Federation.
  
• Archival Finnish and Estonian viruses.
• Two Russian vaccine strains were included in this
  study (RV-97 and Sheep).

13
Phylogenetic relations of two major phylogroups
from Eurasian continent and vaccine strains
14
Geographical location of the genetic groups
15
Entire genome sequencing of the vaccine
strainRV-97
16
Phyloge-netic relation of vaccine strains on
complete protein sequences
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Ongoing research work

• Development of the techniques for express
  differentiation of the field rabies viruses and
  vaccine strains on the basis of
  
• restriction of RT-PCR products
• with restriction enzymes
• Real-Time PCR.

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Conclusion and Future Prospects

• This collaboration was effective and useful for
  both countries
  
• Two major genogroups and several subgroups were
  found among viruses from Russia
  
• To fully characterize geographical distribution
  of the major genogroups revealed further studies
  need to be conducted
  
• International trans-border collaboration to
  control rabies is very essential and must be
  continued.
  

19
References for this study

• Metlin A.E., Cox J., Rybakov S.S., Huovilainen
  A., Grouzdev K. and Neuvonen E. (2004) Monoclonal
  antibody characterization of rabies virus
  isolates from Russia, Finland and Estonia. J.
  Vet. Med. B, Vol. 51, pp. 94-96.
• Metlin A.E., Rybakov S.S., Gruzdev K.N., Neuvonen
  E., Cox J., Huovilainen A. (2006) Antigenic and
  molecular characterization of field and vaccine
  rabies virus strains in the Russian Federation.
  Dev. Biol. Vol. 125. pp. 33-37.
• Metlin A.E., Holopainen R., Tuura S., Ek-Kommonen
  C., Huovilainen A. (2006) Imported case of equine
  rabies in Finland clinical course of the disease
  and the antigenic and genetic characterization of
  the virus. J. Equine Vet. Sci. Vol. 26, pp.
  584-587.
• Metlin A., Rybakov S., Gruzdev K., Neuvonen E.,
  Huovilainen A. (2007) Genetic heterogeneity of
  Russian, Estonian and Finnish field rabies
  viruses. Arch. Virol. In press.