History Of Rabies
Interesting Facts About the History of Rabies
The history of rabies goes back to the earliest documentation of diseases by ancient man. In China, Greece, Rome and India, writers spoke of symptoms that have instilled fear even up to today.
In medieval villages, unfortunate people who had been bitten by what the townspeople thought were infected wolves were tied to poles and fed solid food on sticks. The ones who asked for water were seen to be not infected, since they showed no fear of water, which was a main symptom in the history of rabies. The alternative name “hydrophobia” was developed at about this time.
In the 1500's, an Italian physician described the symptoms of rabies, including the sad fact that, as thirsty as the victims were, they could not bear to drink, because swallowing hurt so badly. He described their fear of the water, and spoke of their “foaming at the mouth”. These are images that still play in our minds today when we think of rabies.
In 1812, a physician in Massachusetts, Dr. James Thatcher, gave his opinion that animals who bite other animals, or people, should be quarantined and observed, rather than killed. He also went so far as to say that healthy dogs should be inoculated with saliva from a dog with rabies.
In the early 19th century, French and German workers conducted experiments that proved conclusively that rabies was indeed spread through the saliva of infected animals. This enabled scientists to begin working on a vaccine using the saliva of infected animals.
Louis Pasteur used strips of rabies-infected tissue from dead rabbits to make a broth that he used with some success as a vaccine, initially only on dogs. But one day a young boy was brought in. He had been attacked by a rabid dog, and he would undoubtedly die if nothing was done. So Pasteur tried his vaccine as a post-bite remedy, and the boy lived, after thirteen injections.
It was not until 1936 that physicians first grew the rabies virus in a tissue culture, and that is when the most rapid advancements began. In 1963, more vaccines were developed, and these created a faster antibody response in patients, and was a pivotal point in the history of rabies.
The rabies virus causes encephalitis in all affected mammals, including humans, and the end is almost always death. Only a few species are what scientists call “reservoirs” for the disease. In the U.S., those “reservoirs of rabies” include foxes, coyotes, raccoons and skunks, as well as some bats.
In American rabies cases from 1980-1996, there were only 32 documented human deaths, and none of these had received the post-exposure treatment that is now standard procedure.
In the world as a whole, rabies deaths are thought to be under-reported. In underdeveloped countries, the treatment we use is not available, and without pre- or post-exposure treatment, rabies is always fatal.