Longevity of ID Rabies vaccination (TRIDL)

I am pleased to report that this research project has now been completed and is published here, thanks for all those who helped:

Mills DJ, Lau CL, Mills C, Furuya-Kanamori L. Long-term persistence of antibodies and boostability after rabies intradermal pre-exposure prophylaxis. Journal of Travel Medicine. 2021 Dec 7;taab188. https://academic.oup.com/jtm/advance-article-abstract/doi/10.1093/jtm/taab188/6454967

Have you had intradermal (ID) rabies vaccine in our clinic more than 5 years ago? If so, we need your help. Would you volunteer a little of your blood to help advance travel medicine knowledge?.

It is terribly sad that we can’t travel anywhere at present due to COVID-19, but I am confident that travel will eventually return and we want to be ready and also keep our staff gainfully employed.

We have ethics approval for a Rabies vaccine research project which we call TRIDL.

This stands for

Travellers Rabies Intra Dermal Later boostability

This project aims to document the long term persistence and boostability of rabies antibodies in travellers who have had the Intradermal rabies vaccine more than 5 years ago.

Many authorities believe that rabies vaccine pre-exposure vaccination will be valid for life but more proof is needed that this is indeed the case. Rabies is such a dreadful disease that we need to be sure, and this project will assist in saving travellers from the need to have boosters in the future.

So this has the chance to save future travellers time and money.

SO

We are seeking to enroll travellers (our patients from over the years) who have received intradermal rabies vaccine more than 5 years ago, and who are in a position to help us advance travel medicine research.  

What does participation in the research entail?

Have an appointment at the clinic –  5th Floor 247 Adelaide Street Brisbane.

1. Fill out a questionnaire with your basic demographic details.
2. Have a blood test for rabies antibody level testing.
3. You will be given a single intradermal rabies booster: just the normal registered rabies vaccine – it is not an experimental vaccine like COVID
4. A further blood sample will be taken 7 days later to check your rabies antibody levels after the booster. ( This second visit can be done at your local Sullivan and Nicolaides lab if you are not in a position to  come to the city twice)
5. You will be rung approximately 14 days after enrollment so we can ask you if you had any side effects from the vaccine and to give you the results of your 2 blood tests.

Of course, there is no cost to you except for your time.  As you might expect, our clinic has all recommended infectious disease prevention protocols in place to ensure your safety when you come to our premises.

This research has ethics approval from the Australian National University and the Trial information is here:  TRIDL Info Sheet

We will be sending invitations to those travellers on our files who received intradermal rabies vaccine more than 5 years before and we are seeking to enroll 220 participants.

We are passionate that advancing the scientific understanding is the best way to keep travellers safe on their journeys.

Our TMA research Group has done the most travel medicine research of any group in Australia.  Here is a link to the research that our group has had published over the years

Thank you so much for your consideration.

If you want more information, please email

clinic at thetraveldoctor.com.au

or call the clinic on 61 7 322 19066.

or send in a comment below

Thanks for your consideration and hope to see you soon

Dr Deb Mills  MBBS MPHTM