Rabies is one of the oldest diseases known to human kind, with recorded incidences dated to 1800 B.C. in Mesopotamia (Flieger, 1990). Rabies is an especially fearful disease for humans, for, once contracted, it is almost always fatal (Kaplan, 1986). "Only three people who showed clear evidence of rabies are known to have survived the illness, and all three suffered permanent nervous system damage resulting in physical or psychological after effects" (Flieger, 1990, p. 23). This research examines rabies. The findings of the research are presented in (1) an introductory background, (2) a discussion of the epidemiology of rabies, and (3) a consideration of the threat of rabies in the United States.
Rabies is an acute, encephalitic viral infection of the nervous system (Evans, 1982; Baer, 1975). Rabies can affect all warm blooded animals. For the greater part, rabies affect animals other than humans (West, 1972). Humans, however, are susceptible to rabies infection. Humans typically contract rabies through a bite by a rabid animal (most often dogs, but also by cats, wild animals, and bats); however, rabies has also been contracted by humans through (1) a lick by a rabid animal over a skin break, (2) by breathing the air in caves inhabited by rabid bats, and (3) the implant of corneas from donors who had undiagnosed rabies (Flieger, 1990).
In some animals, rabies is manifested primarily by paralytic effects (Bacon, 1985). In other animals, however, rabies is manifested through encephalitic hyperexcitability and viscousness (Evans, 1982). Rabies also develops more quickly in some animals (dogs) than in others. The vampire bat, as an example, may transmit the virus for months without displaying any outward symptoms of infection (Bacon, 1985).
Strains of rabies newly isolated from dogs and humans are referred to as the street virus (Evans, 1982). Rabies strains with an altered pathogenicity, and a stable and shortened ...