SYMPOSIUM: VIRUS DISEASES. Rabies
Paweł P. Liberski, Joanna Smoleń, Tomasz J. Wąsik, Beata Sikorska, Jolanta Bratosiewicz-Wąsik
Rabies is a fatal disease (50 000 death in the third Word countries) caused by a virus from a family Rhabdoviridae (from a Greek noun rhabdos – a rod). A virus, cause rabies, demonstrated a characteristic bullet-like shape. Human beings are infected by rabid animal bite (dogs or foxes); there is a possibility of infection through the aerosols in caves invested by carnivorous bats. The virus is ubiquitous; the exceptions are: Antarctic, the British Isles, Ireland, Island, New Zealand, Hawaii, Bahamas and Bermudas. In the Western countries and the USA, also in Poland, the prevalence of rabies is low (1 case in the USA in 1998 and 4 in 1997), but in countries like India or Mexico, the prevalence is in a range of 3.3/105 and thousand of deaths every year (mainly in India). About 50% of cases of rabies is diagnosed in boys under 15. Neuropathologic study reveals features of encephalitis; cytoplasmic Negri bodies are present within the neurons.