Name: What Is Rabies?
Uploaded: undefined
Duration: undefined

Gross Science

NOVA Science Trust Logo

Rabies may have lead to legends of werewolves, vampires, and zombies. And while it’s preventable, it still plagues around 60,000 people a year. Discover more in this episode of <a href="https://www.youtube.com/user/grossscienceshow">Gross Science</a>.

Rabies is preventable, but it still plagues around 60,000 people a year.

What Is Rabies?

Rabies is preventable, but it still plagues around 60,000 people a year.

Body & Brain

What Is Rabies?Published July 27, 2017Here’s the led to an article I read in Maine’s Bangor Daily News the other day: “While jogging on a familiar, overgrown, wooded trail near her home on a recent warm afternoon, Rachel Borch thought to herself, ‘what a beautiful day.’ Little did she know she was about to be attacked by a rabid raccoon she would end up killing with her bare hands.”First of all, the author of that article should win an award. However, I shared that story with you because I’ve had a recurring nightmare for the past 15 years about being attacked in exactly that situation. And that’s because I’ve read about how horrible rabies can be. But inspired by the recent events in Maine, today I’m going to face my fears and explore with you what rabies is and why it’s so scary.I’m Anna, and this is Gross Science.Rabies is a virus that’s usually spread through the bite of an infected animal—and without immediate treatment, it’s almost 100% fatal. But, that may not even be the most terrifying thing about it. The symptoms it causes are like something out of a horror movie—and in fact, this disease may have contributed to legends of werewolves, vampires, and zombies.You see, the virus attacks your nervous system. And if it makes its way to your spinal cord, it moves rapidly up to your brain, where it multiplies.The first signs of rabies can be a tingling in the limbs and flu-like symptoms. But then rabies can manifest itself in a few ways, which sort of exist on a spectrum. On one end of the spectrum is what’s called “paralytic” or “dumb” rabies, which causes muscle paralysis and comas. On the other end of the spectrum is “furious” rabies. This is more common, and patients might be agitated, confused, aggressive, or otherwise behave strangely. And animals with furious rabies can be so aggressive that they bite. Both the “dumb” and “furious” versions almost always end in death.Perhaps the most iconic sign of the disease is foaming at the mouth. See, rabies is spread through saliva—and the virus not only ramps up spit production, but it also causes these pains in the throat that make it difficult to swallow. Animals with rabies start to drool, which increases the likelihood they’ll pass on the virus. Being able to swallow or clear away some of that saliva with water would probably decrease transmission. But many animals develop what’s called “hydrophobia” or “fear of water,” and refuse to drink.Humans experience these symptoms, too. As the disease progresses, a patient with rabies may find even the idea of water deeply distressing. However, let me be clear that the chances that a human will pass on rabies to another human are seriously low. In fact, the only well-documented cases of human-to-human transmission have happened through rabies-infected transplants of tissues like corneas and kidneys.So, how do you treat rabies? Well, it’s easily preventable if you get the rabies vaccine immediately after being bitten by a rabid animal. But once you start showing symptoms, the disease has historically been a death sentence. However, recently a few patients were saved after doctors put them in a coma. That said, whether this treatment method really works is highly debated—there might have been something else going on that allowed those patients to survive.Now, depending on where you live, the chances that you’ll ever come in contact with a rabid animal, let alone actually contract rabies, are extremely low. For example, in the US, there was only one human case of rabies in 2014. And that one, like most infections here, was caused by a rabid bat.However, rabies is a major problem in many other parts of the world. About 60,000 people die from rabies each year, and most of them are children. The vast majority of these cases are caused by rabid dogs, so simply vaccinating pets is one of the best and cheapest ways to prevent the disease. But because the virus often affects poverty stricken places, vaccinations may not be available. In fact, the World Health Organization considers rabies a neglected disease. It’s preventable—it just takes resources to do it.Human have known about rabies for millennia. Ancient Sumerians actually recorded rules on stone tablets about how much a person would need to pay if their rabid dog bit someone—and that was around 4000 years ago. But in the 21st century, my recurring dream shouldn’t have to be a real-life nightmare for anyone.Ew.

United States

Northern Mariana Islands

Puerto Rico

American Samoa

Guam

U.S. Virgin Islands

U.S. Minor Outlying Islands

US & Territories

Colossal explosions shake a remote corner of the Siberian tundra, leaving behind massive craters. In Alaska, a huge lake erupts with bubbles of inflammable gas. Scientists are discovering that these mystifying phenomena add up to a ticking time bomb, as long-frozen permafrost melts and releases vast amounts of methane, a potent greenhouse gas. What are the implications of these dramatic developments in the Arctic? Scientists and local communities alike are struggling to grasp the scale of the methane threat and what it means for our climate future. (Premiered February 2, 2022)

In the Arctic, enormous releases of methane, a potent greenhouse gas, threaten the climate.

Arctic Sinkholes

The top half of Jupiter in blue and green against a night sky

A composite image of Jupiter using images captured by the James Webb Space Telescope. Image Credit: NASA, ESA, CSA, Jupiter ERS Team; image processing by Judy Schmidt.

Explore the cosmos, delve into ancient history, and follow an extreme rescue with NOVA’s most-watched documentaries released in 2022.

NOVA’s most popular science documentaries of 2022

Four bright orange loops brand off of a dark blue blob

A transmission electron micrograph of HIV-1 virus particles (orange) replicating from the plasma membrane of an infected H9 T cell. Credit: NIAID, Flickr

Scientists have cured a handful of people of HIV by piggybacking on treatments they received for blood cancer. But does that bring a widespread cure any closer?

Transcript

Credits

Sources

Support Provided By