Be Mindful of Animals Infected With Rabies
Rabies, from the Latin meaning "madness" and sometimes referred to as "mad dog disease" has been around since 3500 BC and mythologized as a demonic disease that took over the souls of its victims for millenniums.
Zoonatic, the scientific term for transmitted by animals or warm-blooded mammals, rabies has been a bane and a mystery to cultures throughout the ages.
The virus travels through neural pathways to the Central Nervous Center and causes acute encephalitis or inflation of the brain that is fatal.
It was deadly until 1885 when Louis Pasteur and Emile Roux discovered the antiviral antidote and harvested it from infected rabbits.
The discovery was tantamount to discovering penicillin.
The injection that was prescribed was painful and delivered thought the navel of the patient.
The vaccine is highly effective although it must be administered before any symptoms occur.
The regiment of one dose of hemoglobin (HRIG) and four doses of rabies antiviral shots in a fourteen-day has almost a one hundred percent effectiveness to cure the disease.
But more importantly the vaccinations of domicile pets, dogs and cats, have proven to eradicate the disease in most modern countries.
In America there only two diagnosed cases a year and these are almost always contributed to bat bites and more recently raccoons.
Although Pasteur and Roux's discovery had eliminated the deadliness of the disease it is still limited in one way; if any symptom, that can take from two weeks to two years to manifest, are exhibited there is little chance of survival; these symptoms include malaise, headaches, fever, acute pain, violent movements, uncontrollable excitement, hydrophobia, coma and finally death.
If the vaccination isn't delivered before any of the symptoms are apparent the virus is still lethal, with a couple of modern-day exceptions.
The most famous of these exceptions was a miraculous case in Wisconsin and referred to as the Milwaukee Protocol.
The victim Jeanna Giese from Wisconsin was bitten on her finger by a bat; her parents cleaned the bite with hydrogen peroxide and did not go to the hospital.
When she started showing symptoms she was taken to Dr.
Rodney E.
Willoughby who did a spinal tap and sent the sample to Atlanta to be diagnosed.
After finding out it was rabies Dr.
Willoughby put Jeanna under a chemically induced and started the first time attempt to save a human after the onset of symptoms.
While in the coma she was administered antiviral drugs and miraculously had a full recovery after the treatment.
If your dog or cat is not vaccinated the symptoms are similar to humans and always deadly; they include aggressiveness, restlessness, disorientation, lack of fear, paralytic strokes and finally the foaming of the mouth before paralysis and death.
It is important to note that any animal that has been infected by rabies can still transmit the disease from blood and bodily fluids up to 48 hours after their death.
The history of rabies is truly an example of the miracle of modern medicine although in some third world countries that do not have access to the vaccine for their animals or themselves it continues to be a tragedy.
It is important to note that September 28th is World Rabies Day, a day of awareness and recognition of this deadly disease that still exists in impoverished countries in this world.
Zoonatic, the scientific term for transmitted by animals or warm-blooded mammals, rabies has been a bane and a mystery to cultures throughout the ages.
The virus travels through neural pathways to the Central Nervous Center and causes acute encephalitis or inflation of the brain that is fatal.
It was deadly until 1885 when Louis Pasteur and Emile Roux discovered the antiviral antidote and harvested it from infected rabbits.
The discovery was tantamount to discovering penicillin.
The injection that was prescribed was painful and delivered thought the navel of the patient.
The vaccine is highly effective although it must be administered before any symptoms occur.
The regiment of one dose of hemoglobin (HRIG) and four doses of rabies antiviral shots in a fourteen-day has almost a one hundred percent effectiveness to cure the disease.
But more importantly the vaccinations of domicile pets, dogs and cats, have proven to eradicate the disease in most modern countries.
In America there only two diagnosed cases a year and these are almost always contributed to bat bites and more recently raccoons.
Although Pasteur and Roux's discovery had eliminated the deadliness of the disease it is still limited in one way; if any symptom, that can take from two weeks to two years to manifest, are exhibited there is little chance of survival; these symptoms include malaise, headaches, fever, acute pain, violent movements, uncontrollable excitement, hydrophobia, coma and finally death.
If the vaccination isn't delivered before any of the symptoms are apparent the virus is still lethal, with a couple of modern-day exceptions.
The most famous of these exceptions was a miraculous case in Wisconsin and referred to as the Milwaukee Protocol.
The victim Jeanna Giese from Wisconsin was bitten on her finger by a bat; her parents cleaned the bite with hydrogen peroxide and did not go to the hospital.
When she started showing symptoms she was taken to Dr.
Rodney E.
Willoughby who did a spinal tap and sent the sample to Atlanta to be diagnosed.
After finding out it was rabies Dr.
Willoughby put Jeanna under a chemically induced and started the first time attempt to save a human after the onset of symptoms.
While in the coma she was administered antiviral drugs and miraculously had a full recovery after the treatment.
If your dog or cat is not vaccinated the symptoms are similar to humans and always deadly; they include aggressiveness, restlessness, disorientation, lack of fear, paralytic strokes and finally the foaming of the mouth before paralysis and death.
It is important to note that any animal that has been infected by rabies can still transmit the disease from blood and bodily fluids up to 48 hours after their death.
The history of rabies is truly an example of the miracle of modern medicine although in some third world countries that do not have access to the vaccine for their animals or themselves it continues to be a tragedy.
It is important to note that September 28th is World Rabies Day, a day of awareness and recognition of this deadly disease that still exists in impoverished countries in this world.
