Rabies - Fatal but Preventable

Abstract

Rabies is known to mankind since time immemorial. Human and animal deaths are reported almost everyday due to Rabies now a days. It is a fatal viral disease that causes encephalomyelitis in warm-blooded animals. The rabies virus infects the brain. Once the rabies virus reaches the brain and symptoms begin to show, at this stage the infection is virtually untreatable and usually fatal within days and death results. It is a unique disease with several exceptions. It has a wide range of hosts that no other known disease has. It is zoonotic disease which affects both animals and human. It exhibits different symptoms in different species. For example, Hydrophobia (fear of water) is a predominant symptom in human beings but animals never exhibit hydrophobia.Its incubation period ranges from days to months.