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
Viruses are coated genetic material that invade cells and use the cell's apparatus for reproduction.
The word rabies is a derived from a Latin word in late 16th century. That Latin word is rabere ‘rage’.
A fast-acting shot (rabies immune globulin) can prevent the virus from infecting you. Part of this injection is given around the area where the animal bit you if possible, as soon as possible after the initial bite. A series of rabies vaccines can possibly help your body learn to identify and fight the virus. Rabies vaccines are given as injections in your arm. You receive four injections in total over a 14 day period.
Rabies is a highly infectious viral disease that can easily ruin and eventually end the lives of both humans and animals alike. Rabies comes in two forms for animals. It comes in the form of paralytic rabies, which is the kind that puts you in paralysis right from the beginning, skipping the symptoms of agitation and excitability. Rabies also appears in the form of furious rabies, which is completely different in the way that it makes the victim restless, vicious and agitated. When humans get rabies, their symptoms start out with simple headaches and fevers and later progresses to terrible things such as becoming hydrophobic because of painful throat spasms and paralysis. A definite diagnosis of rabies needs lab analysis of
Rabies can be prevented in domesticated animals by vaccination and by the avoidance of contact with rabid wild animals (CSFPH, 2009). The most practical and cost-effective way to end canine rabies is mass dog vaccination, which saves the lives of both dogs and humans. During mass campaigns, all dogs should be vaccinated, regardless of age, weight or state of health. Although the aim should be to vaccinate as many dogs as feasible, herd immunity is achieved by vaccinating at least 70% of the population (WHO, 2013). All dogs should be vaccinated against rabies commencing at three months of age, revaccinated with one of the three year vaccine one year later, and revaccinated every three years thereafter. And also all cats should be vaccinated
Rabies has been prevalent globally for hundreds of years. In Wolfe’s book, The Viral Storm, he presents a story of a young boy who contracted rabies in the early 2000’s. He explains the symptoms the boy had and how unfortunately poor timing led to the boy’s death. (Wolfe, 2014, p. 94) In detail, he depicts how a rabies particle is structured and how it functions as a pathogen. He states that over the years, organizations such as the CDC have studied this disease due to its nature of transferring from animals to humans. (Wolfe, 2014, p. 96) Wolfe and other scientists discovered that rabies is an interesting zoonotic
Rabies is a disease that is very much ignored and underrated in the western world. The threat of rabies is not a subject of discussion you hear every day, but it should be talked about in school or within the community to be competent when you find yourself in a situation associated with a wild animal. Public Health officials have been warning communities from Connecticut to Florida of ways to prevent exposure to the deadly virus, belonging to the family Rhabdoviridae. It is important to know about rabies because rabies always leads to death.
Dr. Louis Pasteur was a forward-thinking individual who made numerous contributions to society in regards to health care advancement; additionally, he was well known for his work with rabies, and specifically, healing a child who had contracted rabies. The story in this week’s reading speaks of a radical experiment where Dr. Pasteur took the spinal cord from dogs who had died from rabies and injected them into the child (Daempfle, 2016). Although this treatment had proven effective at curing rabies in animals it was not proven to work on humans. With nothing to lose Dr. Pasteur injected the untested vaccine into the child who survived the night, also, after injections for three months the child was cured of rabies. Consequently, the child survival was groundbreaking, but how did the process work?
All of these costs are at the hands of public health. The 300,000,000 dollars includes the vaccination of companion animals, animal control programs, maintenance of rabies laboratories, and medical costs, such as those incurred for rabies PEP (Yousaf et.al, 2012). It is estimated that forty thousand PEP are given each year, meaning that not only must there be a primary prevention plan but a secondary prevention plan as well. The vaccine is given in five doses over a three week the estimated cost exceeds one thousand dollars (Yousaf et.al,
Viruses are known as intracellular parasites, and they invade host cells. When they invade, they live inside the cell Daempfle, 2016). Viruses are not living organisms. Viruses sit and wait to be introduced to a host cell. Once they are introduced, they invade into the cell’s nucleus and become energized. Therefore, viruses can not carry out life functions, while outside of a host cell. Nevertheless, viruses are not non-living matter and viruses have genetic material, they make proteins, they mutate, and are able to reproduce. Viruses are most commonly species specific. This means that only one type of virus will infect one type of cell host. It has been deduced by scientists that viruses use the docking system to attach to host cells. However,
Rabies is a harmful virus that compromises a person's neurological process and, consequently, makes their actions unpredictable.
Rabies deaths most occur in Asia and Africa. Roughly 97% of human rabies cases result from dog bites. There are 10 viruses in the rabies serogroup, most of them only rarely cause human disease. It is well known Pasteur developed a vaccine that successfully prevented rabies in the 19th century. A person or animal can become a victim of rabies in many ways; bites, non-bites exposure, human to human transmission [2]. Rabies affects the brain and spinal cord and symptoms are like; flu, fever, headache, but infection can progress quickly to hallucination, paralysis, and eventually death [3]. The primary cause of death is usually respiratory insufficiency [9]. Depending on the location, severity of the inoculating wound and the amount of virus introduced, the incubation period
Rabies is a viral disease that grossed high toll of casualties every year. People that are closely associated with animals contributes most of the casualties, with children making almost half of the total. This report aims to entail rabies virus’ modes of transmission, its clinical features, possible treatments and preventions, and primary victims. It is important for societies to be aware of the disease’ features and symptoms in order to assess proper care and control the spread of rabies effectively.
During a viral infection the virus will firstly attach to a specific receptor on the hosts cell surface by the capsid or envelope triggering a cascade of events allowing it to enter the cell. For example the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) attaches to the CD4 receptor found on T-helper cells with the 120-kDa envelope protein and then fuses with it via the 41-kDa envelope protein . Afterwards, the virus uncoats itself and releases the genome into the hosts cytoplasm. Depending on the type of virus the mode of replication will vary, the virus will either encode its own DNA polymerase and accessory proteins, this usually happens when the virus has the genetic material as RNA, for example the influenza virus. Or it will recruit the hosts DNA polymerase to produce mRNA, as does the human papilloma virus. The genome will then either migrate to the cell nucleus where it incorporates into the host cell DNA or remains in the cytoplasm. Lastly, retroviruses containing RNA in their capsids will encode for reverses transcriptase to produce DNA from the viral RNA, and then will insert the DNA into the hosts genome ex. HIV. The virus will then enclose the newly formed viral proteins to form mature particles, which then bud off from the host cell or lyse the infected cell. The latter usually leads to cell death. For example the latent membrane protein 1 gene in Epstein-Barr virus has been shown to mimic a necrosis
Abstract: Rabies is a dangerous disease that affects both animals and humans. Rabies is caused by the lyssa virus and is almost 100% fatal. The majority of the people infected die from it but there have been a small number of miraculous cases where people have survived. One very special case took place in the life of Jeanna Giese because she recovered without the use of rabies vaccines. There are four FDA approved vaccines for public usage but they are not guaranteed to cure. Rabies affects many people around the world, especially in underdeveloped nations. It is a very serious disease and is preventable if treatment is received before any symptoms show up.