COMPARAÇÃO ENTRE CONJUGADOS IN HOUSE E COMERCIAIS PELA TÉCNICA DE RÁPIDA INIBIÇÃO DE FOCOS FLUORESCENTES (RFFIT) NA AVALIAÇÃO DE ANTICORPOS ANTIRRÁBICOS

Rabies is a lethal zoonosis that may be transmitted to man through virus inoculation, mainly by the bite of infected animals. In 2005, the Brazilian Ministry of Health spent about R$ 66 millions in epidemiological surveillance actions, in order to carry out vaccination campaigns and acquisition of immunobiologicals. The serological evaluation is the basic requirement for surveillance of individuals vaccinated. Ninety one sera, from 34 vaccinees, were selected to evaluate the antibody titration by rapid fluorescent focus inhibition test adapted to 96-well microplates, to compare an in house produced conjugate and a commercial one. Seventy four sera (82.2%) had titers of ?0.5 IU/mL and 12 sera (13.3%) had titers of <0.5 IU/mL. Theses results showed that the rapid fluorescent focus inhibition test using the in house conjugate was as sensitive as the commercial one. The difference between the results using both conjugates was not significant; the antibody titers were highly correlated (r= 0.94).