Date:13/01/2007 URL: http://www.thehindu.com/2007/01/13/stories/2007011310230400.htm

Karnataka - Bangalore

`Practical answer to vaccine shortage'

Staff Reporter

BANGALORE: The Intradermal Rabies Vaccination (IDRV) is the practical answer to shortage of vaccines facing the country today and it will make the vaccine available to more persons who are not getting the vaccine due to the shortages, B.J. Mahendra, Associate Professor, Department of Community Medicine, Kempegowda Institute of Medical Sciences, here and president of Association for Prevention and Control of Rabies in India (PCRI) has said.

Referring to the report "New injection technique to bring down cost of anti-rabies vaccine" published in The Hindu on January 12, Dr. Mahendra said the IDRV was recommended by the WHO in 1992 and it was not discovered by himself and S.N. Madhusudana, Additional Professor, Department of Neurovirology, NIMHANS (National Institute Mental Health and Neuro Sciences), as reported.He said Dr. Madhusudana was one of the pioneers in the country as far as the IDRV was concerned, and the team from KIMS was headed by Prof. M.K. Sudarshan. "And this team of which I am a member has worked closely with Dr. Madhusudana for the trials on IDRV. APCRI and KIMS have on various occasions offered to train the medical officers of the BMP. Dr. Madhusudana has offered to test the blood samples of those who receive the vaccine by the ID route for efficacy at the WHO collaborating centre at NIMHANS. Intra dermal administration of second generation rabies vaccines was initiated in Thailand in the Eighties, and the credit must be rightfully given to them. The Drug Controller-General of India (DCGI) has approved the use of the vaccine by the Intradermal Route and today this IDRV is being adopted and used in Uttar Pradesh. The IDRV implementation is delayed mainly because of legal hitches, which can be overcome."