[Treatment of rabies in man in Vaud and Fribourg before Pateu: therapeutic observations of Drs. Guisan and Schaller in the 19th century]

The picture showing the little Joseph Meister being treated against rabies under Louis Pasteur's eyes, on July 6, 1885, has quickly become a symbol of the triumphant progress of medicine, even though diseases with high mortality like tuberculosis or diphtheria could still not be healed with efficient therapeutic means. But before the discoveries of Pasteur, what was actually, in daily practice, the kind of response an ordinary doctor could give to human rabies? A Swiss physician, Charles-Hector Guisan, developed a therapy based on the use of sodium arsenate, which he published in the columns of the Gazette des Hôpitaux civils et militaires in 1854. This arsenic therapy was to be put into practice on a larger scale in the canton of Fribourg by Dr Jean-Louis Schaller (1816-1880), who meticulously wrote observations in a notebook on the cases of 13 persons wounded by a rabid dog in 1855.

Physiology in the oeuvre of a prominent Hungarian medical scientist--Endre H"ogyes

Endre Hógyes, one of the most prominent and internationally-renown leaders in the field of medical research, especially the treatment of rabies, was born one hundred and fifty years ago in Hungary. E. Hógyes had started his medical and research carrier in 1870. In 1889 he had become vice-president of the Royal Hungarian Society of Natural Sciences and was elected as a member of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences (MTA) and that member of the National Council of Public Health. Scientific carrier of E. Hógyes has always been closely linked to physiological sciences. E Hógyes made a significant contribution to different areas of physiological sciences; his most important scientific publications in this field deal with renal physiology, respitary mechanics, cerebellar function, and associated eye movement. Endre Hógyes 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 token of appretiation, Hungarian physiologists and other medical professionals have announced the year of 1997 as a memorial year of Dr. Endre Hógyes.

Fifth W.D.M. Paton Memorial Lecture. Waterton and Wouralia

British Journal of Pharmacology (1999) 126, 1685–1689; doi:10.1038/sj.bjp.0702409

Rabies: a possible explanation for the vampire legend

In the 18th century, belief in vampires--allegedly dead persons who left their graves and killed people and animals--raised great concern in the Balkans and an extensive debate in Europe. This historic phenomenon still awaits a comprehensive explanation. This article proposes that rabies may have played a key role in the development of the vampire legend, given the coincident time of the phenomena and the striking similarities between them.

Rabies: interactions between neurons and viruses. A review of the history of Negri inclusion bodies

The first clear-cut description of a virus-nerve cell interaction was made by Adelchi Negri in 1903 with the detection of cytoplasmic bodies (Negri bodies) in subsets of neurons in the brain from rabies-infected animals. A biographical sketch of Negri is given here; he was born in Perugia, Italy, in 1875 and died in Pavia in 1912. In 1900 Negri became assistant to Camillo Golgi, who encouraged him to study rabies-infected brains with histological techniques. The report of intraneuronal bodies described by Negri as specific for rabies stimulated an intense debate both concerning their diagnostic value and their nature. The diagnostic value was finally determined in a study by Negri's wife, Lina Negri-Luzzani, in 1913, while the viral nature of the bodies had to await the introduction of electron microscopy and immunohistochemistry. However, the true significance of the Negri bodies is still mysterious, since they only develop in subsets of infected neurons and occur mainly after infection with wild, so-called 'street', virus strains and not after infection with strains passaged in the laboratory, so-called 'fixed' strains.

[Rabies control in Brazil from 1980 to 1990]

The epidemiological situation of rabies in Brazil at the period of 1980 to 1990, when the National Program for Rabies Prevention was implemented on a national scale, and which yielded positive results, is presented. The main controlling actions carried out in order to achieve these results are also described. Rabies in Brasil registered a considerable decrease in human and canine cases (78% and 90%, respectively), half way through the series of analyses undertaken for this study. Towards the end of the decade, the disease began to recrudesce, several cases occurring in some parts of the country, mainly in the northeastern region, where 70% of the total number of infections for 1990 was recorded. Moreover, human rabies transmitted by bats experienced a considerable increase, accounting for 15.1% of the total. The Program, which is implemented by State and Municipal authorities. Covers the 350,000 people who are attacked by animals, and vaccinates approximately 9,000,000 animals every annually year. Epidemiological control is considered to be of basic importance, so that indicators for the definition of the areas of risk have been developed.

[The campaign against rabies--history and the present state]

Rabies is one of the oldest known infectious diseases and with regard to its present prevalence it still remains an important zoonosis. In the submitted paper the author presents data on the historical development of scientific findings on rabies, the important part played by Louis Pasteur and his pupils, the development of the position as regards rabies in the Czech Republic in the past and present time and the role of different animal species. At present we can define in Europe five basic ecological biovariants of rabies associated with specific vector animal species. The role of a dominant vector is held in this country by the fox. Anti-infectious provisions are concentrated mainly on the oral immunization of foxes, preventive immunization of domestic animals and therapeutic and prophylactic provisions in man. In antirabies prophylaxis highly immunogenic and safe tissue vaccines are preferred.

[Pasteurian science through the antirabies vaccine: the case of Mexico]

The history of the rabies in Mexico is a versatile topic because it provides a chance to study different aspects of the history of Mexican science and medicine. This article reconstructs the sequence of events related to rabies vaccination in Mexico. History is also used as a model to study scientific transfer and scientific imperialism, the use of science by politicians in order to validate their governments, and the impact of French medicine on Mexican medicine. In 1888 the physician Eduardo Liceaga, an important political figure, brought the rabies vaccine to Mexico. President Porfirío Diaz supported Liceaga because he assumed that the vaccine was synonymous with modernity, and hence a sign of good government. We also analyze the reasons why there was no Pasteur Institute in Mexico, even though the conditions that allowed its creation in other countries also existed. Two points are of particular interest: 1) Despite its importance, this topic has not formally been studied in the context of the history of Mexican medicine, and 2) A considerable part of the present research is based on original, unpublished manuscripts in French and Mexican archives.

Resurgence of rabies. A historical perspective on rabies in children

Wildlife rabies in certain parts of the United States has been increasing. With greater urbanization, many areas have seen an influx of wild animals such as raccoons and foxes that are known wildlife reservoirs of rabies. Rabies encephalitis has been a fatal illness recognized by humans throughout history. The purpose of this review is to examine the history of rabies throughout the world to elucidate the evolution of popular and scientific knowledge of the disease in animals and humans. By examining this development from a pediatric perspective, we gain insight into the prevention and treatment protocols recommended for children today. Pediatricians need to include education about prevention and treatment of rabies exposures in their anticipatory guidance sessions with families.

The ascension of wildlife rabies: a cause for public health concern or intervention?

The epidemiology of rabies in the United States has changed substantially during the last half century, as the source of the disease has changed from domesticated animals to wildlife, principally raccoons, skunks, foxes, and bats. Moreover, the changes observed among affected wildlife populations have not occurred without human influence. Rather, human attraction to the recreational and economic resources provided by wildlife has contributed to the reemergence of rabies as a major zoonosis. Although human deaths caused by rabies have declined recently to an average of one or two per year, the estimated costs associated with the decrease in deaths amount to hundreds of millions of dollars annually. In future efforts to control rabies harbored by free-ranging animal reservoirs, public health professionals will have to apply imaginative, safe, and cost-effective solutions to this age-old malady in addition to using traditional measures.

[Treatment of human rabies: a summary of its history]

A historical review of the treatment of human rabies from ancient times up to the present is undertaken. An attempt is made to trace parallel between the concept of the main cause of rabies in a certain period and the kind of treatment utilized. The ancient Greek goddess Artemis was considered to be a healer of rabies; they already identified wound cauterization. People of the first century A.D. knew of the infection deriving from the saliva of a rabid dog and called it virus (in Latin). During medieval times when a magical and religious concept regarding health was prevalent, the principal protector was called St. Humbert. During the Renaissance many experiments were carried out and new information on the disease was obtained, both were basic in opening the way for new findings in the future. At that time the miasmatic and contagious theories were predominant. Pasteur strongly objected to the idea of the spontaneity of rabies. At the end of the XIXth. century and based on microbial discoveries, Pasteur brought about a great scientific revolution as regards the possibility of treating rabies by using a vaccine. At the present time, vaccines are of the nervous type or not, and the recommended dose varies. A large-number of studies on vaccination have been undertaken. In Latin America the most used are those by Fuenzalida and Palacios. At present, WHO recommends the vaccine made by cell culture.

Early methods for the surveillance and control of rabies in animals

From the many existing documents on the history of rabies in animals, it is possible to describe with precision the practical measures adopted for the surveillance and control of rabies in animals from antiquity until the 18th century. Surveillance is based on clinical diagnosis, post-mortem examination, animal inoculation and knowledge of the conditions under which infection occurred: aetiology, pathogenesis, susceptible species, virulent material, mode of infection, incubation period, etc. The historical data are assembled and compared, with comments on each of these points. Control is based on the application of general disease control measures and attempts at vaccination and treatment. A study of these procedures enables a comparison of their efficacy and a description of the major steps which led to (or delayed) the work of Louis Pasteur.

Rabies in southern Africa

The first confirmed outbreak of rabies in Africa, believed to have followed the importation of an infected dog from England in 1892, occurred in the eastern Cape Province of South Africa, and was brought under control in 1894. An unconfirmed epidemic of rabies in dogs occurred in western Zambia in 1901. By the following year the disease had apparently spread along a major trade route, to cause an outbreak in Zimbabwe which engulfed most of the country before being eradicated in 1913. The existence of endemic rabies of viverrids (mongooses and genets) was confirmed in South Africa in 1928, and since then the viverrid disease has continued to occur widely on the interior plateau of the country with spill-over of infection to cattle and a variety of other animals. From about 1947 onwards, an invasive form of dog rabies spread from southern Zambia and/or Angola into Namibia, across northern and eastern Botswana into Zimbabwe and the northern Transvaal by 1950, entered Mozambique in 1952, and spread from there to Swaziland in 1954. Dog rabies extended from southern Mozambique into Natal in 1961 to cause a major epidemic which was brought under control in 1968. The disease re-entered northern Natal from Mozambique in 1976 and since then dog rabies has proved difficult to control in the peri-urban settlements of Natal-KwaZulu. The disease spread from Natal to Lesotho in 1982, and into the Transkei region of the eastern Cape Province in 1987, to reach the Ciskei by 1990. The spread of the disease in dogs was followed by the emergence of rabies of jackals and cattle in central Namibia, northern Botswana, Zimbabwe and the northern Transvaal. A unique outbreak of rabies in kudu antelope occurred in central Namibia from 1977 to 1985, apparently involving oral spread of infection between individuals. A few cases of rabies in the bat-eared fox were recognized each year in Namibia from 1967 onwards, and from the 1970s the occurrence of the disease in the fox has emerged as a distinct problem in the northern Cape Province and spread to the west coast. The rabies-related viruses, Lagos bat, Mokola and Duvenhage, associated with bats, shrews and rodents in Africa, are known to have caused isolated cases of disease in South Africa, and on one occasion a small outbreak involving six cats and a dog in Bulawayo, Zimbabwe.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 400 WORDS)

Fatal rabies associated with extensive demyelination

OBJECTIVE

To compare the clinical course with the neuropathological findings in a patient who died of acute rabies encephalomyelitis with coexisting demyelinating lesions.

DESIGN

Patient's history was extensively investigated, during her illness and after death. Details of her previous allergies, postexposure prophylaxis, early use of steroid therapy, 20-day course in an intensive care unit, and autopsy results are clinicopathologically correlated.

SETTING

The intensive care unit of an 1100-bed tertiary referral center and teaching hospital.

PATIENT

A 55-year-old woman, referred by her family doctor.

CONCLUSIONS

Postvaccinal encephalomyelitis and rabies can run similar courses and can be misdiagnosed. On admission to the hospital, this patient was initially diagnosed as having postvaccinal disease. However, autopsy results and postmortem viral cultures disclosed a complex picture, including acute rabies and widespread perivenous demyelination. One other similar report from 1977 in the literature is reviewed. No adequate explanation of the rare coexistence of acute rabies encephalomyelitis and perivascular demyelination is available.