Rabies Vaccine Health Article

Definition

Rabies vaccine is an injection that provides protection against the rabies virus that can be transmitted to humans via the saliva of an infected animal. Rabies is fatal in humans unless it is prevented with a vaccine.

Description

Rabies are caused by viruses of the genus Lyssavirus in the family Rhabdoviridae. Although all mammals are thought to be susceptible to rabies infection, the primary hosts are carnivores and bats. Most human exposure to rabies occurs via an animal bite in which the skin is broken and the virus is transmitted from the infected animal's saliva to the blood and tissues of the victim. The rabies virus infects the human nervous system causing acute encephalomyelitis, an inflammation of the brain and spinal cord. Death, usually by respiratory failure, occurs within seven to 10 days after appearance of the first symptoms. The average incubation period before symptoms of the disease appear is three to seven weeks, with a range of 10 days to seven years.

Prevalence of rabies

UNITED STATES Cases of human rabies are very rare in the United States due to the routine vaccination of domestic animals. In the past most human rabies resulted from bites by infected dogs. However as the incidence of rabies in dogs has decreased dramatically, rabies among wildlife has increased across the continental United States. Bat bites are now the most common source of human rabies infection. Hawaii remains rabies-free.

Between 1990 and 2003, there were 39 diagnosed cases of rabies among Americans. Every year an estimated 18,000 Americans receive rabies pre-exposure prophylaxis and an additional 16,000-39,000 receive post-exposure prophylaxis as a result of animal bites.

WORLDWIDE Rabies is common in some parts of the world, particularly in the developing countries of Africa, Asia, and Latin America. Rabies has been eradicated in the United Kingdom. Rabies is considered to be a reemerging viral disease because it is poorly controlled in many developing countries despite widely available human and animal vaccines. WHO estimates that every year about 10–12 million people worldwide receive post-exposure prophylaxis and that about 35,000 people—primarily children—die of rabies every year. However the incidence of rabies in the developing world is believed to be severely underreported. Most rabies exposures are from bites by unvaccinated dogs.