Rabies-Karen

=**Karen B.**= =**Gold**=

=**Rabies a.k.a hydrophobia**=

= = =__History and Background Information__= Italian physician, Girolamo Fracastoro, discovered that rabies and confirmed it as a fatal disease in the 16th century. Three human rabies vaccines are currently licensed by FDA for U.S. use:
 * Rabies are known world wide. It is known for being a main killer of live stock. 95% of human deaths due to rabies occur in Asia and Africa.
 * An average of 55,000 deaths occur each year world wide. It occurs in every area of the world except for Australia.
 * In the United states the only state that does not have rabies is Hawai.
 * LOUIS PASTEUR discovered rabies in the year of 1931. They are located every where in the the united states except for Hawai.
 * The vaccine known as Human diploid cell vaccine(HDCV) is one of the most widely used vaccines in the world. The vaccine was produced by the French company run by, Pastuer Merieux. The vaccine was approved in 1980.



=__**Symptoms**__=
 * Symptoms usually develop between 20 and 60 days after exposure. Rabid animals may become aggressive, combative, and highly sensitive to touch This furious form of rabies is also known as "mad dog".


 * There is also a "dumb" form of the disease in which the animal is lethargic, weak in one or more limbs, and unable to raise its head or make sounds because its throat and neck muscles are paralyzed. In both kinds of animal rabies, death occurs a few days after symptoms appear, usually from respiratory failure.


 * In humans, the course is similar. After a symptom-free incubation period that ranges from 10 days to a year or longer (the average is 30 to 50 days), the patient complains of malaise, loss of appetite, fatigue, headache, and fever. Over half of all patients have pain (sometimes itching) or numbness at the site of exposure. They may complain of insomnia or depression.


 * Two to 10 days later, signs of nervous system damage appear, hyperactivity and hypersensitivity, disorientation, hallucinations, seizures, and paralysis. Death may be sudden, due to cardiac or respiratory arrest, or follow a period of coma that can last for months with the aid of life-support measures


 * Most human victims, and apparently lower animals as well, suffer excruciating pain on swallowing liquids. Though they suffer from thirst, animal and human rabies victims can be terrified by the sight of water, hence another name for the disease, hydrophobia.

=__**How is it transmitted?**__=
 * The rabies virus, present in the saliva of an infected animal, is usually spread by a bite or scratch that punctures the victim's skin.


 * The virus has a strong affinity for cells of the nervous system. It enters nerve cells at the site of the wound, travels to the brain, and then follows other nerve pathways to muscles and organs that are especially affected by rabies.


 * There are at least two other ways in which humans have been known to have contracted rabies, both extremely rare. Two people were exposed by breathing the air in caves inhabited by rabid bats. And six people contracted rabies following implants of corneas from donors who had undiagnosed rabies.


 * The animals who have rabies usually foam at the mouth and attack when scared. Animals that are usually known for having them are skunks and raccoons.

=__**Structure and Form**__=



=**__Infection__**=
 * Dogs are confirmed as the main carriers of rabies. Human rabies deaths following exposure to wild foxes, raccoons, skunks, jackals and wolves are very rare. Livestock, horses and deer can become infected with rabies, but although they could transmit the virus to other animals or people, this rarely occurs.

=__How the Body rids itself of the Virus__=
 * The body usually heats up in order to destroy some of the virus. Usually it is impossible for the virus to leave through force. The virus can either leave on it’s own or a vaccination can be used. Many people can die due to rabies, but not everyone does.

=__**Does the Virus Mutate?**__=
 * The virus does not mutate in any way. The virus stays in the form it is in the beginning and ends in the same form.

=__**Treatment**__=
 * The virus is treated through vaccination. This vaccine can sometimes make people immune, but it usually deals with the type of animals that bit the person. Specific vaccinations are given dealing with the type of animal that bit the patient.

=__**Bibliography**__= Information: [|http://www.healthscout.com/ency/68/738/main.] [|html http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rabies_virus] [|http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rabies http://www.cdc.gov/rabies/virus.html] [|http://www.cdc.gov/rabies/diagnosis.html]

Images: [|http://www.vet.ksu.edu/DEPTS/dmp/service/rabies/images/rabstruc.jpg] [|http://www.cdc.gov/rabies/virus.html]