Transcript Pasteur treatment.

Rabies
Paul R. Earl
Facultad de Ciencias Biológicas
Universidad Autónoma de Nuevo León
San Nicolás, NL, Mexico
[email protected]
Rabies is a wellknown and dreaded fatal
infection caused when the rabies virus invades
the central nervous system (CNS). . Rabies
virus belongs to the order Mononegavirales,
viruses with a nonsegmented, negativestranded RNA genomes. This bullet-shaped
RNA virus belongs to the genus Lyssavirus of
the Rhabdoviridae. Rabies involves the CNS,
causing acute encephalomyelitis (inflammation
of the brain and spinal cord), severe clinical
and neurologic signs, and disruption of normal
functions.
Pasteur treatment.
On an afternoon about 6:30, a rather
tough-looking guy came into the lab
and sat down without speaking. After
awhile, I said, “Well Verne, what
happened?” “I cut myself on a tube.”
He was working on rabies in cell
culture. “Are you going to take the
Pasteur treatment?” “No.” Luckily
nothing happened.
The idea is that killed rabies vaccine,
sometimes as 14 painful shots, will
elicit antibodies which will kill the
natural infecting virus before that virus
can invade nerves. If nervous tissue is
invaded, the patient will die. Today the
Pasteur treatment is sometimes called:
POST-EXPOSURE PROPHYLAXIS !
The roles of Edward
Jenner with cowpox
prevention of smallpox
and Louis Pasteur aided
by Emile Roux with
killed rabies rabbit brain
vaccine are too
wellknown to recite
here. The Pasteur
treatment changed the
entire world.
On July 6, 1885, 9-year old Joseph Meister
and his mother appeared at Pasteur's
laboratory. Two days before the boy had
been bitten repeatedly by a rabid dog. He
was so badly mauled he could hardly walk.
With much trepidation, Pasteur treated the
youth. Despite Pasteur's fears, Meister
made a perfect recovery. Later another
victim who was a young shepherd also
bitten by a mad dog. Following his
successes, Pasteur received tumultuous
acclaim. He became a hero and a legend.
Thousands and thousands attended
Pasteur’s funeral.
Symptoms. Without the bite as a guide to
symptoms, rabies cannot be diagnosed, and
even with the bite little indeed can be done.
Initial symptoms include: a) restlessness, b)
shortterm depression, c) abnormal sensation,
such as itching, tingling or numbness
radiating from the bite, d) headache, e) fever,
f) lethargy, g) nausea, h) sore throat, i) loss
of appetite, j) muscle stiffness, k) pupil
dilation, l) increased saliva production, and
m) unusual sensitivity to sound, light, and
temperature.
Epidemiologic distribution,
mainly in the US.
Important vectors like raccoons and foxes
may be hardly noticed, whereas thanks to
Hollywood bats and madness are
sometimes stressed. Maps are largely
thanks to the US Communicable Disease
Center (CDC), because they have the best
kept data. The actual world database
demands renewed efforts, e. g., rabies
virus strain per animal host, use of oral
vaccine baits for wildlife mammals, etc.
Are bats in
California, Texas
and New England
accounting for most
human rabies there?
In the US, these are
insect-eating bats.
Infection by bats is
underinvestigated.
Managment of animals that
bite humans.
a) A healthy dog, cat or ferret that bites a person
should be confined and observed daily for 10 days.
Do not administer rabies vaccine in the observation
period. Such animals should be evaluated by a
veterinarian at the first sign of illness during
confinement. Any illness in the animal should be
reported immediately to the local health
department. If signs suggestive of rabies develop,
the animal should be euthanatized and the head
shipped for testing. Any stray or unwanted dog, cat,
or ferret that bites a person may be euthanatized
immediately and the head submitted examination.
Current vaccines.
These are TRIMUNE, Fort Dodge Animal
Health, DEFENSOR 1, Pfizer, Inc.,
DEFENSOR 3, Pfizer, Inc., RABDOMUN,
Pfizer, Inc., RABDOMUN 1, Pfizer, Inc.,
RABVAC 3, Fort Dodge Animal Health,
PRORAB-1, Intervet, Inc., PRORAB-3F,
Intervet, Inc., IMRAB 3, Merial, Inc., and
IMRAB IMRAB 3 TF Large Animal Merial,
Inc., and IMRAB 1, Merial, Inc.
Virus structure.
Rhabdoviruses are about 180 nm x 75
nm. The rabies genome encodes 5
proteins: 1/ nucleoprotein (N), 2/
phosphoprotein (P), 3/ matrix protein
(M), 4/ glycoprotein (G) and 5/
polymerase (L). All rhabdoviruses are
have 2 major structural components: 1/ a
helical ribonucleoprotein core (RNP) and
2/ a surrounding envelope. In the RNP,
genomic RNA is tightly encased by the
nucleoprotein.
Overview of rabies.
Many diseases are shared by man, his
domestic animals and wildlife, rabies of
course being one of this multitude.
Actually, the risk of rabies is very low and
would rise only by public health neglect.
Countries like India still have some
human deaths. Wildlife is
underinvestigated. Successful reduction of
virus prevalence by oral vaccine baits is
fully convincing as Europe is now
practically free ofrabies.
The Pasteur treatment is
practiced more around the
globe. The use of highly
purified cheap horse
immunoglobulins provide a
solution to the current
problems of insufficient
quantities and the high cost
of human immunoglobulin.