Animals inoculated with baited breath.Animals inoculated with baited breath Scientists this month requested U.S. Department of Agriculture approval to conduct field trials of a genetically engineered genetically engineered adjective Recombinant, see there vaccine designed to immunize im·mu·nize v. 1. To render immune. 2. To produce immunity in, as by inoculation. im wildlife against rabies rabies (rā`bēz, ră`–) or hydrophobia (hī'drəfō`bēə), acute viral infection of the central nervous system in dogs, foxes, raccoons, skunks, bats, and other animals, and in . The new vaccine, developed jointly by the Philadelphia-based Wistar Institute and Transgene transgene a gene that has been incorporated into the genome of another organism. , S.A., a French biotechnology company, uses a genetically engineered portion of the rabies virus rabies virus n. A rather large, bullet-shaped virus of the genus Lyssavirus that causes rabies. encapsulated and hidden in flavored bait. When consumed by raccoons, skunks, bats or other rabies "reservoir" animals, the vaccine stimulatesimmunity to the rabies virus, preventing the animals from becoming carriers of the disease. The technique has proved effective in U.S., Canadian and European indoor trials and is being field tested in Europe. The prevalence of rabies in domestic animals has declined sharply since widespread vaccination of pets began in the 1960s. Now more than 90 percent of human rabies cases reported in the U.S. result from wild animal bites. |
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