Rabies is caused by a bullet-shaped virus of the genus Lyssavirus in the family Rhabdoviridae. Rabies is an ancient viral infection of the central nervous system and is considered one of the oldest communicable diseases in humans. The rabies virus was first isolated by Louis Pasteur in 1885 and he was the first scientist to produce the rabies vaccine. Because it is an enveloped virus, rabies is inactivated by several concentrations of formalin, halogens, phenols, alcohols, mineral acids, and other disinfectants. Rabies virus particles are also extremely labile when exposed to ultraviolet light and heat. All warm blooded animals are susceptible to rabies infection, but mammals are the only known vectors and reservoirs in nature. Wildlife that are common sources of rabies in the United States are skunks, raccoons, foxes, coyotes, and some bats that are mostly around the southern United States into Mexico. It is mostly from contact with infected domesticated animals than wild animals that causes human exposure to rabies
The virus is most always transmitted to animals by a bite wound from a rabies-infected animal. Virus particles are carried in the saliva of infected animals and can be introduced into the body by a bite, through a scratch or open wound, or through intact mucous membranes. Transmission from excreted or exhaled virus is suggested to occur between animals in very large colonies, like bats. It is thought that airborne infection is more likely occurs when there are large amounts of aerosolized virus in poor ventilated areas. Rabies can also be contracted through ingestion of infected tissues or secretions, but is not very common
Rabies is a fatal disease and death usually occurs ten days after the appearance of clinical...
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...o are bitten. This major source of rabies can be eliminated through ensuring sufficient animal vaccination and control, educating those at risk, and enhancing access of medical care to those bitten. Vaccination of animals, mostly dogs, has reduced the number of human and animal rabies cases in several countries. Pre-exposure immunization is also recommended for people in certain high-risk occupations such as laboratory workers dealing with live rabies virus, veterinarians, animal health technicians or caretakers, and people involved in any activities that might bring them into direct contact with bats, carnivores, and other mammals in rabies-affected areas. Pre-exposure vaccination is an initial three dose series given intramuscularly on days zero, seven, and twenty-one or twenty-eight days. It has been shown to provide superior protection when followed for ten years
[1, 4, 5, 9, 13] There have been no documented cases where a human has contracted the disease from another human. [4] It appears, based on field and lab data, that infection requires direct contact with the virus through means such as contact with infective bodily secretions, urine, or tissues. [12] It is unknown to scientists how the virus can be maintained in the bat populations and avoids extinction as the host species becomes immune to its presence. [14] The incubation period from time of infection to the onset of symptoms is about 5-14 days in experimentally induced animals [4] and 8-14 days in natural field cases.
Rabies is a deadly virus that occurs in the brain. It can affect all mammals but the ones that are most commonly found with the virus are dogs, bats, raccoons, skunks, and coyotes. This means that any non-mammal can not contract the virus, such as fish, birds, and reptiles (2). The virus can be contracted by humans with saliva transfer with broken skin contact from an animal which has the disease. As this is the most common form of transferring the disease it is very believable that Tea Cake contracts the virus from the wild dog that “managed to bite [him] high up on his cheek bone once” (1). The rabies virus works by being a bullet shaped virus that directly attacks th...
Almost 2,000 died the night of the 1928 storm in Florida. Their Eyes Were Watching God by Zora Neale Hurston realistically depicts the Okeechobee hurricane that struck the coast of South Florida. The incredulous, category four storm produced winds as high as 150 mph and flood waters of up to eight feet. Hurston describes their heart wrenching experience throughout the end of the novel when Janie, the protagonist of the story, survives the devastating hurricane with her husband, Tea Cake. The book shows similarities between the overflow of Lake Okeechobee and the specific weather conditions of the hurricane, but differs regarding the aftermath of the storm.
Polio is a viral disease. It cripples thousands of people and infects even more every year. Even though millions are inoculated, and the polio disease has been successfully purged from hundreds of countries still thousands of people and developing countries are infected and still people are dying. According to the World Health Organization (WHO) polio affects the Central Nervous System, or CNS; by infesting the intestines and transmitting it into the nerves thought the blood vessels. There the virus spreads through the nerve cells to the brain stem or other motor units, while forever damaging the nerves.
It began with infection mainly in the blood vessels of the human skin and mouth, resulting in different kinds of symptoms that turn into serious stages. It was spread by physical contact with human skin and mostly affected children and adults. This disease was so outrageous that it led to a vast number of deaths in New England colonies. Also, smallpox virus is transmitted through airborne infection from the oral, nasal mucus of the infected person. But mostly was spread from close contact or contaminated material of the infected person.
Rabies does not discriminate against any warm blooded mammal; all that come into contact with the virus are at risk. Those who choose to live, work, and recreation in areas with a larger wildlife population are understandably at higher risk. People should be extremely wary of unknown animals and heed behavior changes in familiar animals. The virus is usually spread from a bite wound when the saliva of an infected animal is introduced to the victim via the bite. The virus travels from the origin of the wound to nerves and onward to ultimately infect the brain.
They may believe that this is in everyone’s best interest to choose whether or not to get their pet revaccinated. However, there are always limitations or exceptions to this argument. There have been cases where a veterinarian has told them that they do not need to have the animal revaccinated and unfortunately, fate gets to the animal first. The animal has come into contact with the rabies disease and now the owner is in a bad situation and of course, immediately blames the vet for the situation that they are currently experiencing. The said owner of this personal narrative did end up suing the vet and the vet did get in trouble for her ‘wrongful misquoting.’ Because of stories like this that have happened before, some vets are very cautious when they tell people their opinions. A veterinarian is still a human being and mistakes will be made. Mistakes are not preventable and their education and knowledge was not always enough to go against the game of life. As a partial solution to this problem, veterinarians have resulted to keeping their opinions to themselves and following what they were taught in school all of those years ago. In graduate school, the veterinarian students are taught to follow the vaccination schedule and follow it right on the dot when it comes to the dates as well as the time of year! Some people are more fond of this method so that they are not taking any unnecessary risks; while
...or children. The specific way of transmission is difficult to identify. Most common assumptions have been that transmission has occurred through skin lesions or by sharing blood contaminated objects. Infected saliva is another source of infection especially as a non-parental infection. The virus has the ability to enter a healthy body as an airborne disease by coughing and sneezing, from mouth-to-mouth kissing, biting or by sharing chewed toys and candies [2, airborn]
A “vaccine” or otherwise known as a vaccination, is something that stimulates someone’s immune system from a disease. Vaccines can prevent infections and actually cause it to not re-occur again. The invention of the Rabies, and Anthrax vaccines not only saved life’s, but helped scientist conduct and produce more accurate and successful research. Discovered by Louis Pasteur, in 1882, the innovation of the rabies vaccine was invented. Rabies is a critical and sometimes fatal infection that one could get with coming in contact with a “rabid” or wild animal. When this virus enters the body and spreads, it travels slowly through all the nerves and all the way to the brain. Once it reaches the brain, it becomes fatal. The number of deaths due to rabies worldwide each year is approximately 55,000. However, due to the invention of the rabies vaccine, the number of fatalities and illnesses decreased by a substantial amount.
Poliomyelitis, also known as Polio, is a highly contagious disease caused by a virus that attacks the nervous system. Most victims to this disease are younger than five years of age; they are more likely to get this disease than any other age group. Out of two hundred people infected with the polio disease one is most likely to result in paralysis. The Polio Virus has decreased greatly since the Polio Vaccine was developed. In 2010 a WHO (World Health Organization) pole reported only 1,352 cases worldwide. Since the Polio Vaccine was developed the U.S has not has a single Polio case since 1979.
Smallpox is a disease from the variola virus. Smallpox has caused an estimated number of 300 million deaths in the 1900s alone. Smallpox is said to have been around since the ancient Egyptian times. The disease was eradicated in the late 20th century and two samples are still kept, one in U.S.A and one in Russia. Smallpox creates bumps and blisters all over the body and has been one of the most fatal epidemics the world has seen.
Vaccines save us from being infected with viruses. They save approximately 2.5 million people from death every year. However, while they help save lives, vaccines still have both minor and severe side effects. This can result in nausea, severe sickness, and in rare cases, death. Every year, 3,000 to 4,500 people in the United States are hospitalized due to vaccine side effects. It is extremely important for all communities to be informed about the side effects of vaccines and what causes them. Also, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention say that the influenza vaccine is only 48% effective, due to constant mutation of the virus (Scutti, 2017). This means, the influenza vaccine does not work on all
Childhood vaccinations have received a lot of media in the past few years, and parents continue to question whether or not they should have their children vaccinated. This topic is a very important issue because it seems to be a trend in our society where parents are not vaccinating their children. This then leads their children becoming more susceptible to unnecessary diseases/viruses that can be prevented with vaccines. The focus of the following articles was on the association of the specific vaccines measles, mumps, and rubella (MMR), and vaccines containing thimerosal, which has been a speculated reason for the cause of autism. This contentious hypothesis has many parents failing to vaccinate their children; this is especially true of many friends and family members of mine. They believe that vaccines can cause autism, and I want to prove otherwise.
In recent years, the correlation between vaccines and autism has become the subject of much debate. On one side, there are the anti-vaccinators, or anti-vaccers. On the other, there’s pretty much everyone else. Despite the fact that the anti-vaccination movement has little base in scientific fact, their campaign to end early infanthood vaccinations rages on. While doctors and scientists try desperately to make parents look at the research studies, vaccination rates continue to fall. But, even in these dark times, there is still hope that scientific fact will prevail and defeat the anti-vaccination fear mongers who have caused many children to fall ill and even die because their parents did not properly vaccinate them. This is one of the most saddening scientific failures of the twenty-first century. A failure to educate the public properly has resulted in child, even infant, fatalities. The anti-vaccination movement was started based on falsified data and continues only because of a lack of knowledge and proper education of the general public.