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This information was supplied by:
Kris L. Christine
Founder, Co-Trustee
The Rabies Challenge Fund
(Feb. 11, 2008)
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Greetings!
Below is a copy of the testimony I will present today.
Regards, Kris L. Christine
February 11, 2008
TO: The Agriculture, Conservation and Forest Committee
RE: LD 2171, An Act To Amend the Animal Welfare Laws
My name is Kris Christine and I live with my family in Alna, Maine. I am the Founder and Co-Trustee of The Rabies Challenge Fund (RCF). My colleagues -- Dr. W. Jean Dodds of Hemopet, Co-Trustee of the RCF and Dr. Ronald Schultz of The University of Wisconsin School of Veterinary Medicine, currently conducting 5 & 7 year rabies challenge studies for the RCF -- are the world’s two leading veterinary vaccine research scientists.
I am here to testify against Sec. 7. 7 MRSA §3916, sub-§1-A of LD 2171, which would amend the law to require that puppies be vaccinated against rabies at 3 months of age rather than 6.
There is no scientific or epidemiological data justifying amendment of this law as there has been no increase in rabies in puppies under the age of 6 months in the State of Maine. Dr. Donald Hoenig, Maine’s State Public Health Veterinarian, told me on Wednesday, February 6th that “The last case of canine rabies in Maine was in 2003.......there have only been 5 cases of canine rabies in the past 14 years in Maine…….Cases of canine rabies are EXTREMELY UNUSUAL.”
Five cases of rabies in dogs since 1994 (no mention was made of these cases being puppies under 6 months of age), with the last one being in 2003, evidences the fact that the current law requiring puppies be vaccinated against rabies at 6 months of age is effective at controlling rabies in Maine’s canine community and does not need to be changed.
Vaccinating puppies at too young an age can be ineffective. The 2003 American Animal Hospital Association's (AAHA) Canine Vaccine Guidelines reports on Page 17 (Attachment #1) that: “…when puppies are first vaccinated at > 16 weeks of age (an age when passively acquired antibodies generally don’t cause interference), one dose of an MLV vaccine, or two doses of a killed vaccine, are adequate to stimulate an immune response.”
On Page 16 of the 2003 AAHA Guidelines (Attachment #2), it states that: "When vaccinating an animal, the age of the animal, the animal's immune status, and interference by maternal antibodies in the development of immunity must be considered. Research has demonstrated that the presence of passively acquired maternal antibodies interferes with the immune response to many canine vaccines, including CPV, CDV, CAV-2 and rabies vaccines."
The 2006 AAHA Guidelines (Attachment #3), states on Page 13 as the most common reason for vaccination failure that “the puppy has a sufficient amount of passively acquired maternal antibody (PAMA) to block the vaccine......" The older the puppy is when it receives its first rabies vaccination, the more likely it will elicit the desired immunological response – as demonstrated by the extraordinarily low number of canine rabies cases in Maine over a 14 year period under the current 6 month vaccination protocol for puppies.
Rabies, a “killed” vaccine, is the most potent of the veterinary vaccines and is associated with clinically significant adverse reactions -- it should only be given when warranted. According to the 2003AAHA Guidelines (Page 16) (Attachment #2), "...killed vaccines are much more likely to cause hypersensitivity reactions (e.g., immune-mediated disease)." Further, the AAHA task force
reports on Page 18 (Attachment #4) that, "Bacterial vaccines, especially killed whole organism products …..are much more likely to cause adverse reactions than subunit or live bacterial vaccines or MLV vaccines, especially if given topically. Several killed bacterial products are used as immunomodulators/adjuvants. Thus, their presence in a combination vaccine product may enhance or suppress the immune response or may cause an undesired response (e.g., IgE hypersensitivity or a class of antibody that is not protective)."
Adverse reactions such 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 are linked to rabies vaccinations.
In sum, the law, as it currently stands requiring puppies to be vaccinated at 6 months of age is and has been effective at controlling rabies in Maine’s canine population. There is no epidemiological or scientific rationale for changing this law and prematurely exposing puppies to the potentially harmful, sometimes fatal, adverse side affects of the rabies vaccine prior to the age of 6 months.
Respectfully submitted,
Kris L. Christine
Founder, Co-Trustee
THE RABIES CHALLENGE FUND
More information and regular updates on The Rabies Challenge Fund and the concurrent 5 and 7 year challenge studies it is financing can be found at the fund’s website designed by volunteer Andrea Brin at:
The information contained on this site is in no way intended to replace that of proper veterinary advice, diagnosis or treatment.
It is meant to provide resource, so that we can better understand canine health related issues.