Here we begin!

Day 1 

21/09/2020 “Monday” 

#AnOnlineAwarenessCampaign

Why rabies is called rabies?

Is rabies a viral or a bacterial disease and what animals are immune to rabies?

Hydrophobia ("fear of water") is the historic name for rabies. It refers to a set of symptoms in the later stages of an infection. 

1. Rabies is a fatal viral polioencephalitis that specifically affects the gray matter of a dog's brain and the central nervous system (CNS).

2. In the 16th century, an Italian physician Girolamo Fracastoro discovered that rabies was a fatal disease affecting humans as well as animals, calling it "an incurable wound”. However, it was Louis Pasteur a French biologist that created the first vaccine in 1885.

3. Rabies is caused by lyssaviruses, including the rabies virus and Australian bat lyssavirus. 

4. Lyssavirus belongs to the order Mononegavirales, viruses with a nonsegmented, negative-stranded RNA genomes. Within this group, viruses with a distinct “bullet” shape are classified in the Rhabdoviridae family, which includes at least three genera of animal viruses, Lyssavirus, Ephemerovirus, and Vesiculovirus.

5. It is composed of an internal protein core or nucleocapsid, containing the nucleic acid, and an outer envelope, a lipid-containing bilayer covered with transmembrane glycoprotein spikes.

6. It is spread when an infected animal scratches or bites another animal or human. Any mammal can get rabies. The most common wild reservoirs of rabies are raccoons, skunks, bats, and foxes.

7. Only mammals can get rabies; birds, fish, reptiles and amphibians do not. Small rodents such as squirrels, hamsters, guinea pigs, gerbils, chipmunks, rats, and mice and lagomorphs like rabbits and hares are almost never found to be infected with rabies and are not known to transmit rabies to humans.

8. Saliva a few days before death when the animal “sheds” the virus, can also transmit rabies if the saliva comes into contact with the eyes, mouth, or nose. 

9. Rabies is not transmitted through the blood, urine or feces of an infected animal, nor is it spread airborne through the open environment.

10. When it reaches the brain, the virus multiplies rapidly and passes to the salivary glands. The animal begins to show signs of the disease.

What are the signs and symptoms of rabies recognized in animals?

To be continued...

#Educate #Vaccinate #Eliminate

#WorldRabiesDay2020

Picture Source: https://images.app.goo.gl/1K5t9kLRsYhUssuf8