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Write An Essay On Rabies Virus

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A virus by definition is “any member of a unique class of infectious agents . . . that consists of genetic material, which may be either DNA or RNA, and is surrounded by a protein coat and, in some viruses, by a membrane envelope” (“virus”). Such agents are unable to produce the necessary nutrients to survive because they do not possess the biochemical mechanisms or organelles to synthesize necessary elements. As a result, they feed off a living host cell by attaching to the cell’s docking proteins and injects its virus through the membrane. However, the cycle of a virus is more complex than it may seem. There are eight main steps that occur in a basic virus: attachment, penetration, uncoating, targeting, gene expression, genome replication, virion assembly, and the release of the new infectious virus. During attachment, the virus’s attachment proteins “dock” on specific receptors found on the outer membrane of certain target cells. In order for this process to occur, the attachment proteins must bind with a certain receptor for that specific virus. For example, the rabies virus has glycoprotein attachment molecules that bind with acetylcholine receptors on neurons. The virus then penetrates the cell and injects its nucleic acid from the capsid, the protein shell that protects the virus, through either …show more content…

During the sixteenth century, Italian physician Girolamo Fracastoro identified the fatal disease in humans and discovered that it was caused by a bite from a rabies infested animal and can be transmitted to other mammals, including humans, through saliva and other bodily fluids. It affects the mammal’s nervous system and causes encephalitis, an inflammation in the brain that can result in seizures, confusion, unconsciousness, and death. It wasn’t until 1885, when a French biologist, Louis Pasteur, created the first rabies vaccine for

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