| Mary Elizabeth G. Miranda, DVM, DVPH |
| Research Program Leader |
| TECHNICAL
GROUP MEMBERS |
| Marina A. Cagadas, RMT |
| Alan B. Calaor, RMT |
| Ma. Teresa M. Despacio, RN |
| Agnes L. Garinga, RN |
| Romeo V. Lood, Jr., RN |
| Daria L. Manalo, DVM |
| Cecilia S. Montalban, MD |
| Rodolfo C. Perez |
| Beatriz P. Quiambao, MD |
| Orly G. Soria, RMT |
| Elena F. Ulanday, RN |
| Non-TECHNICAL GROUP MEMBERS |
| Emmanuel P. Baylon |
| Edgardo J. Damicog |
| Rowena D. Perez |
| Virgilio A. Santos |
FORMS |
The eventual control of rabies is rooted in animal rabies control. While post-exposure treatment for dog/cat bite victims remains a mainstay of the control program, the Rabies Research Program is now looking toward the feasibility of providing preventive therapy (i.e., pre-exposure immunization) to those at risk including young children below 5 years.
The current activities and accomplishments include: (1) Conduct of province-wide and
city-wide operations research activities as rural, urban and peri-urban models to
demonstrate the feasibility of eventual elimination of rabies in the country; (2) Conduct
of Good Clinical Practice (GCP) – compliant clinical trials for the evaluation of
reduced-cost multi-site post-exposure vaccination regimens as well as new generation
rabies biological products; (3) Conduct of operations research geared towards the
improvement of post-exposure management of dog/cat bite patients; (4) Participation in the
WHO Expert Committee meetings on human post-exposure treatment since 1994; (5)
Participation in the National Rabies Committee and National Rabies Prevention and Control
Program; and (6) The establishment of a national reference laboratory for the diagnosis of
rabies.
On-going clinical researches are: (1) Prospective, randomized trial assessing safety and immunogenicity of CPRV (chromatography-purified rabies vaccine) in pre-exposure use in healthy children, with a booster at 1 year; (2) Compliance with the intra-dermal regimen of anti-rabies vaccination; and (3) Clinical Presentation of Human Rabies Cases. The on-going laboratory research is on the divergence of Philippine rabies isolates from animal and human cases using nucleotide sequence analysis.