Disease dynamics across political borders: the case of rabies in Israel and the surrounding countries

An eco-historical analysis facilitated the identification of the socio-political, demographical and environmental changes that have affected the distribution and abundance of vertebrates living in Israeli and Palestinian territories, their pathogens and the extent of human - animal contacts, all contributing to the risk of rabies, leading to three deaths in the late 90's. There are indications that the implementation of uncoordinated control strategies with a lack of an ecological perspective on one side of the border, such as the destruction of the main reservoirs, led to the emergence of a more potent reservoir coming from the other side, and the creation of an additional on yet to be identified. We analyze the lessons of historical mistakes, aiming at future regional control of the disease.

[Pasteur Institute of São Paulo: battling rabies for one hundred years]

The Pasteur Institute of São Paulo is currently celebrating its centennial. The article first paints a brief history of Pasteur's institutional trajectory, emphasizing its main contributions to science and public health. The second part describes the exhibit that marks this anniversary - its goals, organization, and sources - and comments on aspects of the material on display.

[Human rabies--Andrijevica in 1947]

The highest incidence of human rabies in Yugoslavia was recorded in the post-war years, between 1946 and 1949. Medical literature also quotes the epidemic of rabies mediated by a wolf in Andrijevica in 1947. Rabies was not confirmed in the wolf by laboratory findings, but the clinical picture of wolf rabies and the clinical findings in the infected and dead people indisputably confirmed the diagnosis. The parts and organs of the animal were not adequately preserved and transported. The wolf's head reached the reference laboratory, 12 days after the rabid animal had been killed. Laboratory tests on the material from the infected or dead people were not done. The data are supplemented by new facts. Epidemiological approach was used, and interviews with the participants and the members of the injured and deceased, as well as the citizens who were thought to be able to assist in the reconstruction of the events in 1947. The protocols of Pasteur Institute and the Public Records Office of Montenegro were consulted. The author points out that the patients showed "hydrophobia, laboured breathing..." which is an undisputed symptom of rabies, a clinical confirmation of the conclusion made based on the behaviour of the infected wolf. The barking of the household dogs and actions of the herds when they were protecting their animals are probably additional reasons of high exposure to the rabid wolf. Among several available data, the author points out that there were 28 injured and 9 infected persons. This gives a death rate of 32.1%. The described rabies epidemic has had the highest number of injured and dead in Montenegro and post-war Yugoslavia.

[Measures against rabies in Hungary in the 18th and 19th centuries]

The author presents a concise overview of the royal prescriptions and methods of popular medicine on the fighting of rabies in Hungary during the 18th and 19th century.

11 January 1887, the day medicine changed: Joseph Grancher's defense of Pasteur's treatment for rabies

The Pasteur treatment for rabies is generally seen in terms of a triumphant penetration of laboratory science into clinical medicine. Similarly, the debates challenging the Pastorians have been interpreted as retrograde and inevitably vain efforts by a few disgruntled clinicians to resist scientific progress. This article revises the standard account by showing that the defenders of Pasteur perceived a serious threat to their enterprise and acted expeditiously to counter a potential crisis by adopting clinical strategies and tactics to argue for the relative safety of their method and to account for the rare failures resulting in deaths. An extensive unpublished source, the correspondence of Dr. Joseph Grancher with Pasteur, reveals this physician's leading role in successfully orchestrating the defense of Pasteur's antirabies method in January 1887 in the National Academy of Medicine. In responding to Dr. Michel Peter's accusations that the method could be dangerous and had been fatal in certain cases, Grancher invoked notions of risk inherent in all medical therapy, along with individual variability and predisposition to disease. Grancher's unpublished correspondence, supplemented by other manuscript letters, permits a textured understanding of the urgency experienced by Pasteur's team and their interactions as they worked out a strategy to defend their pioneering entry into human medicine. The suppression of autopsy evidence in one fatal case is apparent. More important, the strategy of the Pastorians implied a complementarity between the "clinic" and laboratory science, rather than any opposition.

[150 years from the birth of Endre Hogyes, promotor of Hungarian medicine]

Endre Hogyes, one of the most prominent and internationally known leaders in the field of medical research, a specialist on the treatment of rabies, was born one hundred and fifty years ago in Hungary. E. Hogyes started his medical career and research in 1870. In 1889 he became vice-president of the Royal Hungarian society of Natural Sciences and was elected as member of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences (MTA) and member of the National Council of Public Health. The scientific career of E Hogyes was throughout closely linked to the physiological sciences. He contributed significantly in different fields of the physiological sciences. His most important scientific publications in this field deal with renal physiology, respiratory mechanics, cerebellar function and associated eye movements. Endre Hogyes was the first to organize Hungarian physiologists into a community. The "Special Physiological Conferences" were initiated within the Hungarian Royal Society of Natural Sciences in 1891. As a proof of appreciation, Hungarian physiologists and other medical professionals have proclaimed the year 1997 as a memorial year of Dr. Endre Hogyes.

[Zoeros Pasha's report presented to the Sultinate on his return from Paris]

The Ottoman Empire dispatched a committee consisting of Zoeros Pasha, the president, Dr. Hüseyin remzi and veterinarian Hüseyin Hüsnü, who were members sent to learn how the method of the vaccination of rabies was practiced in Paris in 1886. Zoeros Pasha relates their studies in Paris, as well as his idea on the novelties he observed there and comments on the advantages of them in case of application in the Empire, in his report dated December 29th of 1886, prepared on his return from Paris. Zoeros Pasha and Hüseyin Hsnü Bey learned the vaccination practice, attending Pasteur's laboratory. Zoeros Pasha studied bacteriology for three months and Hüseyin Remzi attended the laboratory of "Jardin des Plantes" in order to do some zoological researches. When Pasteur went on vacation, Zoeros Pasha provided for Hüsnü Bey to attend the Veterinary School of Paris and directed his attention to the anthrax vaccination found by Pasteur. Hüseyin Hsnü Bey and Dr. Hüseyin Remzi Bey composed a book based on their translations on the subject Zoeros Pasha also mentions in his report the following topics on which he says he could report, if desired: 1. New methods of treatment applied for heart and lung diseases. 2. The most effective prophylactic methods and sanitary precautions on the epidemic and infectious diseases. 3. Improvement planned for the Imperial School of Medicine. 4. Use of anatomy in finding out criminals, in order to help the police forces.

The spread of rabies into Europe and the probable origin of this disease in antiquity

An outbreak of rabies among silver foxes in Poland in 1939 has led to widespread dissemination of the disease in animals throughout most of the countries of Europe, and has stimulated intensive study of the rabies virus.