Rabies is an infectious dangerous and fatal viral disease caused by single stranded RNA rhabdovirus. World rabies day is celebrated annually on 28th September because of the remembrance of death anniversary of Louis Pasteur the French microbiologist who developed first vaccine for rabies. World rabies day is raised to create awareness among public about rabies and their harmful effects. Rabies caused about 59000 human deaths worldwide annually as they wide spread fastly. 99% of rabies is dog mediated and become a burden for rural poor population. It is the major public health problem in India killing about 20,000 people annually and was endemic throughout the country. It is transmitted from animals to human by animal bites (dog, cat, bat infected by rabies virus).
Symptoms of Rabies
- Fever
- Headache
- Sore throat& cough
- Nausea & vomiting
- Partial paralysis
- Hyperventilation
- Hyper salivation
- Hydrophobia
- Insomnia
- Photophobia
- Finally coma and death
Treatment
Rabies vaccine
- Neural vaccine
- Semple vaccine
- Beta – propidactone vaccine
- Infant brain vaccine
- Imovax vaccine
- Human rabies immune globulin
- Human diploid cell vaccine
- Purified chick embryo cell culture vaccine
How to prevent rabies?
- Create awareness among public about rabies
- Anti rabies vaccination for pet animals
- Keep pet animals away from wild animals which spread the disease
- Educating public about the behavior of dogs (angry, friendly , suspicious) to prevent against dog bite
- Take vaccination