Transcript File - Engineering World Health at UC Berkeley

Rabies
Symptoms

flu-like symptons (couple days initially)



general weakness, discomfort, fever, headache
discomfort or itching at bite location
later on, cerebral dysfunction, anxiety, confusion,
agitation, delirium, hallucinations, insomnia

delirium, hallucinations, and insomnia in later stages

symptoms show after 2-10 days
Cause

caused by Rabies virus

travels to central nervous
system after infection
Transmission

spread by infected saliva

usually bite wounds, can also be spread if saliva seeps
into open wound or mouth or eyes (ie licking)

is always from mammals to humans/other mammals

no cases of human to human transmission

however, is possible through transplant of infected
organs
Common Carriers

cats
bats

cows
beavers

dogs
coyotes

ferrets
foxes

goats
monkeys

horses
raccoons

rabbits
skunks
woodchucks
Diagnosis

if symptoms start showing, disease is almost always fatal


less than 10 survivals in history
multiple ways of detection




direct fluorescent antibody test
immunohistochemistry
electron microscopy
amplification
Direct Fluorescent Antibody Test



standard for detection
rabies virus proteins are present in infected nervous
tissue
labeled anti-rabies antibody is released, and will bind to
rabies antigen

if rabies is present, the microscope will detect
Immunohistochemistry


these set of methods detect rabies in formalin-fixed
tissues
uses specific antibodies to detect by using enzyme
labeling
Electron Microscopy

views the structure of viruses through an electron
microscope

A= Negri body

B = RNP

C = rabies virus
Amplification Methods



small amounts of rabies might be hard to confirm
grow samples in Mouse neuroblastoma cells or baby
hamster kidney cells
can also amplify by copying RNA into DNA using reverse
transcriptase, which is then amplified by polymerase
chain reaction
Treatment

if infection takes hold, too late

after bite, take several shots:


rabies immune globulin shot prevents virus from
infecting, given near bite
a series of rabies vaccines are given to help body learn
to fight rabies, receive 5 injections over 14 days
Prevention


Rabies is 100% preventable; there is no documented
case of rabies ocurring after vaccination
guidelines:




vaccinate pets
keep pets away from wild animals
report strays and stay away from wild animals
vaccinate when travelling
Rabies in the World


Present in more than 150 countries in the world
60,000 people die of rabies every year, mostly in Asia
and Africa
Rabies in the World
Cost


multiple shots mean multiple visits to the clinic
immunoglobulin shot by itself can be a few thousand
dollars


can run up to $7000 for whole treatment
pre-exposure could cost just between $685 - $1110

includes consultation and appointments
Sources

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK8618/

http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/rabies.html

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmedhealth/PMH0002310
/

http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/rabies/DS00484

http://www.who.int/rabies/en/

http://www.cdc.gov/rabies/prevention/index.html

http://www.who.int/rabies/rabies_maps/en/

http://www.rabiesvaccinecost.com/