Rabies
is a disease that is transmitted to humans from animals, also called zoonotic
disease. It is caused by virus. The disease infects domestic and wild animals,
and is spread to people through close contact with infected saliva via bites or
scratches. Dogs are the source of 99% of human rabies deaths. Some symptoms of
rabies virus are headache, fever, sore throat, nervousness, confusion, pain or
tingling at the site of the bite, hallucinations, hydrophobia, paralysis, and
coma. Once the symptoms of disease develop, rabies is always fatal.
There
are some stages of rabies infection; non-specific prodrome, acute neurologic
encephalitis, coma and death. In non-specific prodrome stage, symptoms are
fever, headache, vomiting, depression, agitation and pain or tingling sensation
at bitten site etc. neurologic phase is segmented into encephalitic rabies and
paralytic rabies. Symptoms of encephalitic rabies are irritability, cough,
autonomic dysfunction and altered mental status. Symptoms of paralytic rabies
are sensation disturbances, presence of bladder dysfunction and persistent
fever coinciding with limb weakness.
Rabies
virus is classified into two types; street virus and fixed virus. The virus
recovered from naturally occurring cases of rabies is called street virus and
its incubation period is long i.e. 20 to 60 days. It is pathogenic for all
mammals. The virus which has a short, fixed and reproducible incubation period
(4-6 days) is called fixed virus. It can pathogenic for humans under certain
conditions.
According
to study, “Rabies
Global Clinical Trials Review, H1, 2018” some strains of fixed virus
vaccines are Pasteur virus strain (PV), PV-12, challenge virus strain (CVS)-11,
low egg passage (LEP), high egg passage (HEP), Kelev, Evelyn rokitnikiabelseth
(ERA) and Pitman-Moore (PM) strain.
Rabies
virus is generally fatal; there are no medications that can provide help. As
soon as a bite is received, a series of shots be prescribed to prevent the
virus from thriving. The shots include; a fast-acting shot consisting of rabies
immune globulin; this prevents the virus from infecting the individual and is
delivered as soon as possible, close to the bite wound. Other shot include a
series of rabies vaccines to train body to fight the virus whenever it finds
it.
There
are a number of vaccines available that are both safe and effective. They can
be used to prevent rabies before and for a period of time after exposure to the
virus such as by a dog or bat bite. It can be different types such as nerve
tissue vaccines, duck embryo vaccine and modern tissue/cell culture vaccine. It
is one of the neglected tropical diseases that predominantly affect poor and
vulnerable populations. Although effective human vaccines and immunoglobulins
exist for rabies, they are not readily available or accessible to those in need.
Rabies
vaccines are preventable viral disease which occurs in more than 150 countries
and territories. In up to 99% of cases, domestic dogs are responsible for
rabies virus transmission to humans.
World
health organization, food and agriculture organization, international
organization for animal health and the global alliance for rabies control are
responsible to adopt a common strategy to achieve "Zero human Rabies
deaths by 2030". This initiative marks the first time that both the human and
animal health sectors have come together to advocate for, and prioritize
investments in rabies control and coordinate the global rabies-elimination
efforts. The global strategic plan to end human deaths from dog-medicated
rabies by 2030 formulated by the United Against Rabies will guide and support
countries as they develop and implement their national rabies elimination plans
that embrace the concepts of one-health and cross-sectorial collaboration.
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