Rabies: A Deadly Virus
By Regine Boussy
Rabies, the Latin word for "madness," is a severe, acute
viral infection of the central nervous system and is one of the
most terrifying diseases known to man. All warm blooded animals,
including humans, are susceptible to rabies. It can be
transmitted by the bite of a rabid animal or its saliva being
introduced into a fresh scratch or similar skin break; it is
rarely spread by other routes.
The incubation period, the time it takes for symptoms to
develop after exposure to a rabid animal, can be as little
as six days or as long as one year. Rabies symptoms are
almost identical in both humans and animals. They include
changes in attitude and personality, restlessness, abnormal
sensation around the area of exposure, fever and loss of
appetite. Most dramatic of all are the severe and painful
throat spasms suffered on attempting to sallow or even upon
viewing liquids. This fear of water is what gives the
disease its common name, "hydrophobia."
Rabies is incurable if it attacks the brain before preventive
inoculation. Symptoms rapidly progress, usually in a matter
of days, and the victim dies from cardiac or respiratory
failure. Diagnosis is possible only through autopsy.
Centuries before the birth of Christ, rabies was known in both
animals and man. Cases were described with amazing clinical
accuracy, even during the lifetime of Aristotle. Rabies has
occurred in almost every part of the world, except
Australia, were no case has ever been diagnosed. An
anti-rabies vaccine was discovered in 1884 by Louis Pasteur,
the great French bacteriologist.
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