There was huge news in my inbox last Monday morning from Kris Chistine and I have been sitting on my hands in anticipation of when I can finally post my biggest story ever. You all remember Kris, she is the person from Alna Maine who challenged Maine's two year out dated rabies law and had it changed to three, after her dog Meadow became ill from a rabies shot. Kris didn't stop there and she was instrumental in starting the Rabies Challenge Fund study.
While many pet owners and even some Veterinarians felt that the rabies vaccine given even every three years was not necessary, previously there was no way to verify, as it takes a lot of money to scientifically prove something. In adding even more years inbetween rabies vaccines, there will even less money to be made by drug companies, the ones who usually funds such studies.

This year for the holidays I will not be posting any gift guides or ideas. Instead, I am listing the challenge study and the challenge study only. It is truly the gift of health and a gift that keeps on giving not only to your current pets but to future ones as well.

So what's the big news already? The big news is that the University of Wisconsin and Dr. Schultz a veterinary vaccine research scientist, is conducting concurrent 5 and 7 year challenge studies to determine if the vaccine protects for 5, then 7 years. They have agree to conduct the study and have waived the usual 48 % overhead fee. Many people had voiced concerns to me that they were all for the study, but that they wanted to know where the money was being spent. Now you know-the money is going directly to the study itself!

Below is the press release.

NOW GO AND GET YOUR WALLET!!!

I am sending my twenty bucks, and that is roughly what I would have spent on my two dogs presents. Don't worry about them, they do not want for anything and will of course still get a little extra something for the holidays.

World-Famous Scientists Donate Services to

The Rabies Challenge Fund Charitable Trust

Two world-renowned giants of veterinary vaccine research -- Dr. W. Jean Dodds of Hemopet and Co-Trustee of The Rabies Challenge Fund and Dr. Ronald Schultz of the University of Wisconsin School of Veterinary Medicine -- have volunteered their time to ensure that critical 5 and 7 year rabies challenge studies are conducted in the United States. The studies are to be financed by The Rabies Challenge Fund Charitable Trust, a tax-exemption organization founded by pet vaccine disclosure advocate Kris L. Christine of Maine in 2005, and will be performed by Dr. Schultz at the University of Wisconsin. The University has waived its usual 48% overhead fee for these studies.

The concurrent challenge studies will determine the duration of immunity conveyed by the canine rabies vaccine, with the goal of extending the state-mandated interval for boosters to 5, and then to 7 years. According to Dr. Dodds, “This is one of the most important projects in veterinary medicine. It will benefit all dogs by providing evidence that protection from rabies vaccination lasts at least 5 years, thereby avoiding unnecessary revaccination with its attendant risk of debilitating adverse reactions. "

Scientific data indicate that vaccinating dogs against rabies every three years, as most states require, is unnecessary. Studies have shown the duration of protective immunity as measured by serum antibody titers against rabies virus to persist for seven years post-vaccination, and results of a 1992 French challenge study led by Michel Aubert demonstrated dogs were immune to rabies five years after vaccination. Researchers believe the rabies vaccine causes the most and worst adverse reactions in animals and concur that it should not be given more often than is necessary to maintain immunity. Adverse reactions to rabies vaccination can include 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.

Dr. Schultz states that “[s]howing that a vaccine for rabies can provide 5 or preferably 7 years of immunity would have great significance not only in controlling rabies but more importantly in reducing the adverse vaccine reactions that can occur in dogs and cats after vaccination."

More information on The Rabies Challenge Fund and the concurrent 5 and 7 year challenge studies it will finance can be found at the fund’s newly established website designed by volunteer Andrea Brin at: www.rabieschallengefund.org.

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