The Republican. [volume] (Oakland, Md.) 1877-current, 1882-09-23
Recovery from Rabies.

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! On more than one ground of possi-
bility of the recovery Of dogs from at
tacks of rabies is of great Importance
The demonstration that this terrible dis
ease is not invariably fatal, even in the
animals most proneto it, may at least be
welcomed as affording ray of hope for
| therapeutics, while the fact of the recOv-
cry of affected animals may afford an ex-
PLANTATION of many mysterious outbreaks
of the disease. NJ DecroiX lately COM
municated to the Academic de Medicine
nine cases which he had collected of we'll
authenticated recovery from rabies. N
M. Menecier inoculated two dogs and a
rabbit with the saliva of Il rabid doc; all
three died from rabies, but the doc from
which the saliva was obtained recovered.
(2) DecroiX inoculated a dog with the
saliva of one suffering from rabies; the
latter died, the former became affected
with characteristic rabies and recovered.
(3) Some saliva was obtained from man
some hours before he died from HYDRO
phobia, and with it Il dog was inoculated:
the animal presented well-marked symp-
toms, but recovered. (4) Reg of Lyons
recorded the recovery of a dog with furi-
Gus rabies, due to bite from another
rabid animal. (5) Auxiliary veterinary
surgeon, Laquerriere, has recorded the
case of dog affected in consequence of
u bite from an animal unquestionably
rabid. The destruction of the doc was
ordered, but the owner refused consent,
and the dog recovered without treat
ment. The four remaining eases were of
recovery from rabies, in man in
three cases, and in the horse in
the last. Decroix points out that
in furious rabies the attacks increase
in frequency and intensity during two
or three days, then attain their maxi
mum, and disappear in two or three
days more, whereas death does not oc-
eur until the fifth orsiXth day. The en-
inent authorities who have never met
with an inStanceO Of recovery are scarcely
justified in denying the occurrence of
such eases described by those practition-
ers who have seen them. The Rabies
Committee, of which NJ DecroiX was
President has made since 1874. a host
OF experiments with various substances
OF reputed value in rabies. three of them
with piloparpine, and every supposed
remedy which they employed appeared
actually to hasten death by the violent
paroXySms which it caused. The con
illusions of NJ Decroiv are that it is ex-
perimentally demonstrated that rabies
may terminate in spontaneous recovery.
Up to the present day no agent has
made good its claim as a remedy for "a
bies. The cases Of recovery attributed
to this or that agent may be, with equal
Justice, ascribed to the spontaneous term.
inatiOn of the disease. The dogs which
recovered in the experiments carried on
by the committee were left at rest, and
since the administration of medicines
usually provOkes conyulsive seizures. it
seems desirable, according to our pres.
ent knowledge to leave persons affected
with the hydrOphobia in the most per.
feet possible calm, trying experiments
only upon animals. In absolute quietude
and obscurity the paroxysms are far
less terrible than when medicines
are administered, and NJ. Decroix
asserts that if these conditions could be
secured, he would far rather suffer from
hydrophobia than from many other dis
ease. 1t may, however, be observed
that we are scarcely justified in drawing,
from the superior results of therapeutic
inactivity in dogs, the same lesson in the
case of the disease in man. The admin
of drug to the human sufferer
may be effected with far less disturbance
than in the case of the dog. Without
doubt, however, he is correctn insisting
on the absolute Importance of perfect
and of the avoidance of
everything which may in any degree
help to excite the paroXysms. 1t may
be doubted, also, whether dogs are the
best subjects for therapeutic expert
since it is probable that the CON
ditions met with in the human subject
obtain more closely in the herbivora than
in the carnivora. 1t is very desirable,
in the case of any recovery from rabies,
that it should be aScertained at what date
the saliva ceases to be infectious, and
the disease can be communi-
Gated after the animal has to all appear
ance recovered. This is not improbable
explanation of the occasional alleged oc-
of the disease from the bite of
healthy animals. -Lnncet.