A Comparative Study on the Adverse Reactions of Purified Chick Embryo Cell Vaccine (PCECV) and Purified Vero Cell Rabies Vaccine (PVRV)

Human rabies is preventable by prompt application of post-exposure prophylaxis (PEP). The aim of this study was to compare the adverse reactions of purified vero cell rabies vaccine (PVRV) with purified chick embryo cell vaccine (PCECV) vaccination for the PEP.
In this double blind clinical trial study, 1449 people bitten by animals (279 females), were recruited from 9 different cities of Iran, and randomly assigned to receive intramuscular injections of the PVRV (n = 702) and PCECV (n = 747) vaccines in 5-dose regimen. The local and systemic adverse reactions were compared between two groups.
The mean age was 26.8 years (SD, ± 13.1 years) and 27.4 years (SD, ±13.9 years) in PVRV and PCECV group, respectively. Bites were most often located on the lower extremities in both groups. The most common local adverse reaction in both groups was pain at the injection site (4%). Most of the reported systemic adverse reactions were headache (2.5%) and fever (1.9%) in PCECV and PVRV group, respectively. The incidence of itching was higher in the PVRV group compared to the PCECV group (1% vs. 0.1%) (P The results of the present study indicated that PCECV vaccination was associated with fewer itching at the injection site. There was no significant difference between PCECV and PVRV vaccine regarding local and systemic adverse reactions. Therefore, the PCECV vaccine can be administered instead of PVRV, when our country encounters serious challenges in PVRV vaccine supply.