What People Should Know About Rabies

The Lanier Hall East dormitory at Texas Southern University in Houston, Texas was recently in the news after students battling a massive bat infestation was caught on tape. There was a frenzy as cameras recorded students swinging at the dreaded bats with brooms and tennis rackets.

Health officials were concerned about the recent bat incident, not because it terrified some of the students, but, because bats are known to carry a potentially deadly disease, known as rabies. The Center for Disease Control (CDC) found that since 1980, a total of 21 (58 percent) of the 36 human cases of rabies diagnosed in the U.S. have been associated with bats.

Rabies is a viral infection that is often fatal. It only occurs in mammals. If rabies exposure is not addressed promptly and efficiently, any human or animal with the disease will die, according to Medline Plus. In fact, the Guiness Book of World Records stated that rabies is one of the few diseases which is 100 percent fatal. However, it only becomes a death sentence once the rabies is in its advanced stages. According to the CDC, death usually occurs within days of the onset of symptoms. Some of the symptoms listed by Medline Plus include: pain, fatigue, headaches, irritability, fever, seizures, hallucinations, and paralysis. Rabies' average incubation period is three to seven weeks, but, can be as long as seven years.

Rabies outbreak prevention involves a process known as postexposure prophylaxis (PEP). PEP is not exclusive to rabies. It is used to prevent the outbreak of infectious diseases after exposure.

The most common exposure to rabies is through a bite, according to a CDC factsheet on rabies. The disease is also transmitted when open wounds, abrasions, and/or mucous membranes are contaminated with saliva from an infected animal. Human-to-human transmission can occur through organ transplantation involving infected organs. Once exposed, one must take immediate action. Any animal bite should immediately be followed by washing the wound with soap and warm water to reduce the risk of catching any disease. Also if bitten, the CDC advices to gather as much information about the animal as possible, and call the local animal control to have it captured and analyzed. Make sure to seek medical attention as soon as possible. The virus travels from the wound to the brain, where it causes inflammation, according to Medline Plus. The inflammation causes symptoms.

Doctors test animals and humans for rabies using a test called immunofluorescence. The test is used to look at brain tissue in deceased animals to determine if it had rabies. The same test is done on humans, except, doctors use a piece of skin from the neck, or they may test saliva or spinal fluid.

PEP is a regimen of one dose of immune globulin and five doses of rabies vaccine over a 28-day period.

PEP consists of the following procedure: First, the wound must be cleansed. Then, human rabies immune globulin (HRIG) is administered only once, to provide antibodies for patients who have not already had a rabies vaccination, until the patient's body responds to the rabies vaccine by producing its own antibodies. The rabies vaccine is administered in five doses as shots in the arm to unvaccinated persons, and the first dose is given as soon as possible. The remaining vaccine doses are given on days 3, 7, 14, and 28 of the 28-day regimen.

Although rabies among humans is rare in the United States, every year approximately 16,000-39,000 persons receive PEP, according to the CDC factsheet. PEP is nearly 100 percent successful in preventing a rabies outbreak, however, prevention does not start there. For example, humans can receive rabies vaccinations before actual exposure, especially veterinarians and animal handlers. The vaccine is given as an injection, and it contains killed rabies virus, which will not cause an infection. Medline Plus states that it is also important to have dogs and cats receive rabies vaccinations at three or four months old, and again at one year of age. Afterwards, have a vet update their vaccinations every three years.