Wall Street Journal
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Updated August 31, 2012, 9:44 a.m. ET

Rabies vaccine test expanded after W.Va. success
Associated Press
Extract
LEWISBURG, W.Va. — The U.S. Department of Agriculture is expanding testing of a new rabies vaccine to Virginia, Ohio and the St. Lawrence Seaway region following initial success in West Virginia.

USDA wildlife biologist John Houber says trials of the ONRAB vaccine at the additional sites will allow the agency to confirm the results of initial testing in Greenbrier County in southeastern West Virginia. The USDA also plans a second year of trials in West Virginia.

The Register-Herald (http://bit.ly/NFHioB ) says Houber discussed the vaccine trials this week during a meeting of the Greenbrier County Commission.

About 80,000 baits laced with the vaccine were air-dropped in Greenbrier County last fall in the first field trial in the U.S.

Houber said the vaccine’s effectiveness rate was nearly 50 percent. The expected first-year effectiveness rate for a rabies vaccine is 15 percent…

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