The invention provides a recombinant rabies viruses comprising three copies of a mutated G gene wherein each G gene encodes a rabies virus glycoprotein having the amino acid 194 mutated to a serine and the amino acid 333 is mutated to a glutamic acid. The recombinant rabies virus is nonpathogenic in immunodeficient mammals and can be used in a vaccine to induce an immune response protect mammals from infection by rabies virus as well as clear a pre-existing rabies virus infection from neural tissues.
