The role of vitamin A in enhancing humoral immunity produced by antirabies vaccine

ABSTRACT

We tested the effects of vitamin A supplementation on the antibody titre of 40 healthy volunteers [age range 10-35 years], who had received a complete course of antirabies vaccine [5 injections over 30 days]. After determining the baseline serum vitamin A status of 80 volunteers, 20 pairs were matched for serum vitamin A level, body mass index, age, sex and socioeconomic status. One person from each pair was randomly assigned to an experimental or control group. The experimental group received vitamin A and antirabies vaccine. Controls received only the vaccine. The experimental group had significantly greater [2.1 times] serum antirabies titre than controls. This finding is an important step towards improving the economy of dosage of antirabies vaccines