I think this is probably a stupid question but last year I got a 3 round rabies vaccine. I am not sure my titer but I know first years need true vaccines. My question is:
It's been a year as long as my titer is high am I safe? I've been working with a lot wildlife & rabid cats that have probably been licking thenselves. Am I still protected? I am sure Im fine but I havent gotten my booster so I thought id ask before I enter my first year DVM
Thanks!
Just ask your vet school what they want. I was vaccinated two or three years before school, and my school didn't really care until third year - at that point they wanted us all vaccinated prior to the clinical year, or titer/RFFIT tested if we had been previously vaccinated.
No titer level means you are "safe," and nothing can guarantee you are safe. It's actually important to understand that, because you need to realize that just being vaccinated (or even having a recent high titer level) isn't some sort of magic shield that means you can willy nilly expose yourself to a pathogen, no matter how good the vaccine is (and the rabies vaccine
is really good).
You can't assume you are still protected. I've talked to some people who routinely need re-vaccination because their titer levels drop, and I've talked to some people who were vaccinated more than a decade ago and their titer levels remain high. I don't understand the point about working with wildlife. That doesn't impact anything with regard to your titer levels.
Here's a good summation from the AVMA:
"The ACIP recommends titers on a schedule of every two years to assess protective immunity, with a single-injection booster vaccination recommended if the titer level is below 1:5 serum dilution (0.1-0.2 IU/mL). The
World Health Organization’s (WHO) rabies titer cutoff is higher; WHO recommends that a single booster rabies vaccination be given when the titer drops below 0.5 IU/mL by the RFFIT. That said, there is no established “protective titer,” and post-exposure prophylaxis is still necessary after known exposure.
According to the
Kansas State Veterinary Diagnostic Laboratory, titer levels or IU/mL values equal to or above 0.5 IU/mL (~1:50), provide evidence of a robust immune response after rabies vaccination. Although the presence of antibodies after vaccination is important, a specific level above 0.5 IU/mL does not give complete assurance of protection against the disease
in every individual because there are
other immunological factors involved in the protection from rabies infection. However, an overview of rabies challenge studies indicates rabies virus neutralizing antibody (RVNA) levels equal to or above 0.5 IU/mL provides at least equal assurance of protection as does current vaccination status."
This is from the CDC. Note their emphasis that no level
guarantees protection (i.e. means you are 'safe'):
"A rabies antibody titer is essentially an estimation of an immune response against rabies virus (either through exposure or vaccination). The RFFIT is one method which provides a laboratory measurement of the ability of an individual human or animal serum sample to neutralize rabies virus.
There is no “protective” titer against rabies virus. In animal studies, survival against rabies virus infection is often more likely to occur the higher an animal’s titer at time of infection, but not a definite indicator of survival. For example in one study of orally vaccinated raccoons 39% of animals with no detectable titer at infection (<0.05 IU/mL) survived, compared to 90% of animals with a titer between 0.05-0.49 and 100% of animals with a titer >0.5 IU/mL. Mounting a rapid antibody response (referred to as an anamnestic response) is often a better indicator of surviving exposure which is one reason additional doses of vaccine are recommended after an exposure, to ensure a rapid antibody response, even if a person has been previously vaccinated."
