Rabies, its name comes from a Latin word meaning “to rage” has struck fear in people for centuries. An Italian physician, Girolama Fracastoro, discovered that rabies was a disease fatal to humans as well as animals in the 16th century, calling it an incurable wound. Louis Pasteur created the first rabies vaccine in 1885 using live rabies virus (Hennessen, 17). Pasteur’s early vaccine could cause serious, even fatal, reactions, but it was a start on the road to today’s effective vaccines. Rabies has a long history in medicine, and now is well known.
Rabies is a preventable viral disease of mammals most often transmitted through the bite of a rabid animal, including humans. The vast majority of rabies cases reported to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) each year occur in wild animals like raccoons, skunks, bats, and foxes. Domestic animals account for less than 10% of the reported rabies cases, with cats, cattle, and dogs most often reported rabid (Finley, 34).
Rabies virus infects the central nervous system, causing encephalopathy and ultimately death Early symptoms of rabies in humans are nonspecific, consisting of fever, headache, and general malaise. As the disease progresses, neurological symptoms
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The number of rabies-related human deaths in the United States has declined from more than 100 annually (Silerstein, 22). Tests are preformed on samples of serum, spinal fluid, skin biopsies from the nape of the neck, and saliva (Division of Viral and Rickettsial Diseases). In the first stage of paralazation rabies, an animal may appear to be chocking. Fitzgerald director of the division of product quality control in FDA’s Center for Biologics Evaluation and Research. “Furious” rabies largely affects the brain and causes and infected animal to be aggressive or excitable. Saliva maybe tested by virus isolation or nested reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) methods (Finley, 122). “Paralytic” or “dumb” rabies, mainly affects the spinal cord, causing the animal to be weak-limbed, lazy, and unable to raise its head or make sounds because neck and throat muscles are paralyzed. Patients do not recover and eventually die from the infection. More than 90% of all animal cases reported annually to the CDC now occur in wildlife. Once symptoms appear, the only treatment is vigorous supportive measures to help the patient feel more comfortable by controlling the respiratory, circulatory, and nervous system symptoms. On the contrary, illness may not develop until a year after exposure. No single test can be used to rule out rabies in humans with certainty. (Finley, 33)
Furthermore,” Virtually all vaccines are made from living systems, whether you are talking about the oral polio vaccine or DTP shots that your kids get or rabies {vaccines},” said Dr.
Over the last 100 years, rabies in the United States has changed dramatically.
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