Rabies

• Rabies is a viral illness that affects mammals. It is transmitted when an infected animal bites another mammal. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, most infections in the U.S. are seen in wild animals. The first recorded incidence of the disease took place in Babylonia in 2300 B.C, according to the organization Rabies-Free World. It was not until 1885 when the French chemist Louis Pastuer had successfully treated a man with a vaccine created by his research assistant Emile Roux, that there was an effective cure for the disease.
  
  

Symptoms and Diagnosis

• The rabies virus attacks the nervous system, causing various flu-like of symptoms including sweating, fever and headache. Later symptoms may include confusion, anxiety, insomnia, little or partial paralysis, difficulty swallowing, hypersalivation, and hydrophobia, or a fear of water. According to the CDC, after symptoms appear, the illness is nearly always fatal. According to the World Health Organization, death occurs generally within a week of the illness without serious medical care.
  
  Diagnosis in humans is made by running various tests on different specimens. One test is not enough to make a diagnosis. Specimens taken include saliva, spinal fluid, serum (the liquid part of the blood), and skin tests on hair follicles at the back of the neck.
  
  

Treatment

• After getting bitten, you should thoroughly and immediately wash the wound with soap and water to reduce the chance of infection. Generally wound cleaning is important, but this is especially true for rabies wounds. In animal studies when this was done the rate of infection was reduced even when no other preventative measures were taken. After having been exposed to the virus you should also get treated with a passive antibody and vaccine, if you have never gotten vaccinated before. Even if you previously have gotten a rabies vaccination, or have received a preexposure vaccine, you should get another vaccination after having been bitten, according to the CDC.
  
  

Prevention

• To prevent rabies, vaccinate your pet and keep the vaccinations current. Sterilize your pet by having the animal spayed or neutered to reduce the pet population. This can decrease the level of potentially unwanted pets who may not be vaccinated or who may become rabid. Contact animal control to remove strays from your area, as these animals may not be vaccinated for rabies or may be infected with the disease. By vaccinating pets, human exposure and illness from rabies is decreased as well.
  
  

Prevalence

• In 2008 in the U.S., wild raccoons were seen to have the highest rate of rabies infection at about 35 percent. Bats, skunks, foxes and other animals like lagomorphs and rodents had progressively lesser degrees of infection. Rabies may also be transmitted by coyotes. In contrast, domestic animals had about a 7 percent rate of infection in 2008. Among these cats had the highest rate at 4.3 percent rate of infection.
  
  Small animals like squirrels, chipmunks, mice, gerbils, hampsters and rabbits are generally not found to be infected with rabies.
  
  Worldwide, those most at risk of exposure to rabies are those living in rural areas in Asia and Africa, according to the WHO. Of this group, poor children under 15 are the most at risk for infection.