Rabies

**Rabies** is a viral disease that can infect mammals (warm-blooded animals, including humans). It infects the nerves and causes sudden encephalitis (swelling/pain of the brain). Rabies used to be called **hydrophobia** because one of its symptoms was causing fear to an infected person when trying to drink a liquid such as water. This is also why dogs or wolves with rabies foam at the mouth.

The disease is almost always fatal (for both people and animals) when the symptoms start. Basically no one has survived having rabies without prior vaccination (only one case, of a 15 year old girl, is documented). There is no treatment and cure for it when the symptoms occur. However, people (and pets) who are treated with vaccines soon after becoming infected have a very good chance of survival.. From the entry point, the virus replicates and travels up the nerves to the brain. The usual form of getting it is a bite of a rabid mammal. Pets, like dogs need to be vaccinated against it, in most countries.

## Spread of rabies 
About 99% of human rabies cases come from dogs. In the Americas, it is more common to get rabies from wildlife (e.g. bats). People rarely get rabies from other wild mammals. Rodents do not spread rabies to people. Livestock (farm animals) can get rabies, and sometimes spread it to people. Some regions have no rabies or almost no rabies, such as Western Europe, Canada, the United States, Australia, and Japan. The rates of rabies cases went down from 1990 to 2020. In 2018, the World Health Organization made a plan to end human rabies deaths by 2030.

### Transmission
Most of the time, rabies comes from an animal bite or deep . People can also get it if an animal licks their eyes, mouth, or an open wound. No known person has ever been infected directly by another person. A few people have been infected by organ transplants.

Fear of water is the most distinctive sign of rabies. People may panic when they see water, and have sudden muscle contractions in their throat.

## Treatment 
There is no cure for rabies. There is a *Rabies vaccine* (medicine to try to prevent rabies) against it. The vaccine was first developed by Louis Pasteur and Pierre Paul Émile Roux in 1885. This vaccine used a live virus grown in rabbits, and weakened (through drying it). The first person to be vaccinated was Joseph Meister (a 9-year-old boy who had been bitten by a dog). Vaccines similar to this are still used today, but other vaccines (growing the virus using cell cultures) are more often used. Some vaccines are made with bird embryos.

There is also a form of treatment that can be done once a person has been bitten. It needs to be done within 6 days of being bitten. There is no way to know whether someone is infected, until it is too late. Treatment starts with washing the wound. This is done to reduce the number of virus particles that enter the body. Often patients are given one dose of immunoglobulin and a certain number of vaccines, over a determined period of time, usually a month. After the signs and symptoms of rabies appear, less than 20 people have survived. Only one person world-wide has survived rabies without vaccine treatment.

## Prevention 
To prevent (stop) rabies, animals should get vaccines. It is most important to vaccinate dogs and cats. Children should learn how to be safe around animals. Wild animals should be prevented from biting pets and livestock. To stop rabies outbreaks, some countries quarantine animals that enter the country.

## References 
## Other websites 
*History of Rabies in Los Angeles
*Rabies Information 
*Rabies - A Comprehensive Guide 
*Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
*World Health Organization factsheet on Rabies
*World Health Organization factsheet on Rabies vaccine
*Rules for importing pets to the United Kingdom 
*A Rabies-Free World, Inc.  - NPO dedicated to fighting rabies worldwide
*Rules for importing pets to the European Union  
*Rules for importing pets to the European Union Q&A 
*Aspen Skunk Rabies Research 
*"When Raccoons Attack" from Field & Stream Online 
*“Only Known Unvaccinated Rabies Survivor Thrives” *(USA Today)* Progress report on the first known survivor of rabies