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This topic is to explain the effects of rabies
To start off,rabies a a viral neuroinvasive disease that is most well known for it's second stage that cause excessive violence in the host.To become infected with it,a mammal of any kind must be exposed to it through saliva,blood,mucus,transplant surgery,kisses,bites(if it gets through the skin), and sexual relations.After a typical human infection by bite, the virus enters the peripheral nervous system. It then travels along the nerves towards the central nervous system. During this phase, the virus cannot be easily detected within the host, and vaccination may still confer cell-mediated immunity to prevent symptomatic rabies. Once the virus reaches the brain, it rapidly causes encephalitis. This is called the “prodromal” phase. At this time, treatment is useless. Then symptoms appear. Rabies may also inflame the spinal cord producing myelitis.

The primary carriers of Rabies is usually bats,but is also seen in Opossums,Skunks,cats and dogs.Three stages of rabies are recognized in dogs. The first stage is a one to three day period characterized by behavioral changes and is known as the prodromal stage. The second stage is the excitative stage, which lasts three to four days. It is this stage that is often known as furious rabies due to the tendency of the affected dog to be hyperreactive to external stimuli and bite at anything near. The third stage is the paralytic stage and is caused by damage to motor neurons. Incoordination is seen due to rear limb paralysis and drooling and difficulty swallowing is caused by paralysis of facial and throat muscles. Death is usually caused by respiratory arrest.Wolves on the other hand ARE NOT reservoirs for the disease, they can catch it from other species,but is more rare in the wild due to the fact that wolves that display an unusual behavior are normally killed by their pack members to avoid the spread unless it is a Loner or a dispersal.

The period between infection and the first flu-like symptoms is normally two to twelve weeks, but can be as long as two years. Soon after, the symptoms expand to slight or partial paralysis, cerebral dysfunction, anxiety, insomnia, confusion, agitation, abnormal behavior, paranoia, terror, hallucinations, progressing to delirium. The production of large quantities of saliva and tears coupled with an inability to speak or swallow are typical during the later stages of the disease; this can result in “hydrophobia”, where the victim has difficulty swallowing because the throat and jaw become slowly paralyzed, shows panic when presented with liquids to drink, and cannot quench his or her thirst. The disease itself was also once commonly known as hydrophobia, from this characteristic symptom. The patient experiences the response of “foaming at the mouth” as a result of the body's inability to quench its thirst; essentially, the overproduction of saliva as a last-resort attempt at retaining fluids.

Death almost invariably results two to ten days after the first symptoms; the few humans who are known to have survived the disease were all left with severe brain damage, with the exception of Jeanna Giese. It is neurotropic in nature.

Currently pre-exposure immunization has been used on domesticated and normal non-human populations. In many jurisdictions, domestic dogs, cats, and ferrets are required to be vaccinated. A pre-exposure vaccination is also available for humans(thank God), most commonly given to veterinarians and those traveling to regions where the disease is common, such as India. Most tourists do not need such a vaccination, just those doing substantial non-urban activities. However, should a vaccinated human be bitten by a carrier, failure to receive subsequent post-exposure treatment could be fatal, although post-exposure treatment for a vaccinated human is far less extensive than that which would normally be required by one with no pre-exposure vaccination.

As for treatments,
Treatment after exposure, known as post-exposure prophylaxis or “P.E.P.”, is highly successful in preventing the disease if administered promptly, generally within six days of infection. Thoroughly washing the wound as soon as possible with soap and water for approximately five minutes is very effective at reducing the number of viral particles. “If available, a virucidal antiseptic such as povidone-iodine, iodine tincture, aqueous iodine solution or alcohol (ethanol) should be applied after washing. Exposed mucous membranes such as eyes, nose or mouth should be flushed well with water. In the United States, patients receive one dose of immunoglobulin and five doses of rabies vaccine over a twenty-eight day period. One-half the dose of immunoglobulin is injected in the region of the bite, if possible, with the remainder injected intramuscularly away from the bite. This is much less painful compared with administering immunoglobulin through the abdominal wall with a large needle, as was done in the past. The first dose of rabies vaccine is given as soon as possible after exposure, with additional doses on days three, seven, fourteen, and twenty-eight after the first. Patients that have previously received pre-exposure vaccination do not receive the immunoglobulin, only the post-exposure vaccinations on day 0 and 3. Since the widespread vaccination of domestic dogs and cats and the development of effective human vaccines and immunoglobulin treatments, the number of recorded deaths in the U.S. from rabies has dropped from one hundred or more annually in the early twentieth century, to 1–2 per year, mostly caused by bat bites, which may go unnoticed by the victim and hence untreated.

Some recent works have shown that during lethal rabies infection the blood-brain barrier (BBB) does not allow anti-viral immune cells to enter the brain, the primary site of rabies virus replication.This aspect contributes to the pathogenicity of the virus and artificially increasing BBB permeability promotes viral clearance.Opening the BBB during rabies infection has been suggested as a possible novel approach to treat the disease


In 2005, the case of Jeanna Giese, a girl of 15 who survived acute, unvaccinated rabies after being bitten by a rabid bat whilst attending Church was reported, indicating the successful treatment of rabies through induction of a coma.[28] This treatment approach was based on the theory that rabies' detrimental effects were caused by temporary dysfunctions of the brain, and that the induction of a coma, by producing a temporary partial stop in brain function, would protect the brain from damage while the body built up an immune response to the virus. After thirty-one days of isolation and seventy-six days of hospitalization, she was released from the hospital, having survived rabies.

Rodney Willoughby Jr., the primary care physician in this case published in the April 2007 issue of Scientific American. He notes that subsequent failures of what he calls the Milwaukee protocol did not use the cocktail of drugs used during the treatment of Giese. A point he makes for future research is the relationship of the virus to depletion of biopterin in the brain.

Later attempts to use the same treatment have failed, but in April, 2008, in Cali, Colombia, it was reported (by local newspapers) that an 11-year-old may have recovered successfully after induction of coma. This patient was infected on February 15 when several children were bitten by a cat in Santander de Quilichao, a small town near Cali. However, this claim has not been verified.

In November, 2008, a 15-year-old Brazilian boy was reported to have recovered from symptomatic rabies also using the Milwaukee protocol.

Personal notes.
1.I would like to thank Draco for helpin me out on where to put this topic.
2.If you have a mammal pet,GIVE IT A VACCINE AT THE VET,and yourself one as well
3.I'm actually terrified of rabies and wouldn't hesitate to kill an animal if it is infected
4.This would have been put this on the animals forum,but this is about the whole virus.

I think this is actually better in the animals section...seeing as rabies is pretty much contracted to humans through contact with a rabid animal..

*Reaches for your move button* Er.... I cant reach ;[




Sometimes I feel my dogs have got rabies (Although they haven't), there always going mad.... but thats just them - But really good information - We need more of these topics to produce self awearness(SP?) Around us.

Rabies is something EVERYONE needs to be aware about.

What clear is this topic's point. Information.

Just to throw that into the air.

Now, which section this topic goes is debatable. But it looks like that's been decided on.


Moved to Animals forum

They took a vaccine right?
Yeah,the thing that got me working on this was a conversation with catwhohas14tails,the film "quarantine", and to show what rabies will really do.

Don't worry - your dogs do not have rabies because the UK is completely rabies-free, although there might be small amounts of it in Scottish bat populations.

Yep, I am terrified of that disease and I too would not hesitate to kill an infected animal. It would protect myself and those around me, not to mention putting the poor creature out of its misery.

(Joker - thanks for all the useful info. )

We stillget the odd cause of Rabies over here - Thanks to the OVER population of immogrants.

Your welcome and thanks to you to.Rabies is still here in the U.S.,but isn't nearly as bad.Most cases are normally raccoons than bats here.Rabies in Canines has nearly if ,but the not entirely disappeared.However the disappearance of the canine-specific strain of rabies virus in the US does not eliminate the need for dog rabies vaccination as dogs can still become infected from exposure to wildlife.

This is a list of countries that are rabies free or almost are
Australia,
New Zealand
Singapore
Fiji
Guam
Hawaii
the United Kingdom( although there may be a very low prevalence of rabies among bats in the UK)
Republic of Ireland
Norway
Sweden
Finland
Iceland
Japan
Taiwan
Germany

We had my cats vacinated as well, even though we rarely let them outside, we get the occasional bat in the house. A little known fact is the legends of werewolves have been attributed to people having gotten rabies from a rabid wolf, which is just an intresting bit of trivia. Rabies is a deadly virus, even in our day and age. Its one of the few viruses that is nearly immpossible to completely get rid of, as that would require injecting every single animal that could recieve it. There is an intresting possiblity though, scientists have sucessfully altered a mosquito's genetic structure to make it have maleria antibodies in its blood naturally, basically making it incapable of carrying the virus, with the hope they'd mate with wild mosquitoes and their offspring would carry the genem eventually wiping out the virus. This could be a promising way to get rid of rabies but of course mammals are much harder to alter and a lab animal being released into the wild is obviously hard. I know a lot of people would probably raise a fuss about this but I think in the long run, eleminating a deadly illness would be equally beneficial to both the animals and humans.

Correct,even though rabies used to be ALOT more widespread than it is today.

HAHAHAHAHAHA U GGOT RABIES!

@ I_am_balto: Stop it. You're getting a warning for that, and we'll be keeping an eye on you. That post did nothing to help along the topic, and plus, you made an accusation based on no facts whatsoever.

Everyone else: Let's get back on topic, shall we? ^^

There is a fic on this site about a pack of rabid dogs that attack Nome. Here's a link:

http://baltosource.timduru.org/fic/Balt ... 1-177.html

Even though it's rated "G", there are some points (I won't give anything away) that can get pretty intense. It's still a good read though.

O_o Coolio, i'll read that later.