Rabies is a viral disease transmitted through the saliva of infected animals. Louis Pasteur's research in the 1880s identified the rabies virus and led to the development of the first vaccines using weakened forms of the virus. The first person successfully treated for rabies infection was a 9-year old boy in 1885. In the US, wildlife like raccoons, bats and skunks are common carriers and transmission can be prevented through vaccination after exposure. While rare in the US, rabies remains a serious threat globally with over 55,000 deaths per year.

1. Rabies Lyssavirus rabies

4. Family= Rhabdoviridae (viruses with “bullet” shape

5. Genus= Lyssavirus

9. According to the CDC, in 2008, raccoons accounted for 34.9% of all rabid wildlife cases…

10. …Bats accounted for 26.4%...

11. …Skunks accounted for 23.2%...

13. Anxiety, stress and Tension

14. Aggressiveness'

15. Hallucinations

16. Foaming of mouth

17. Increased Salvia and Tears

18. Muscle spasms

19. Fever

20. HeadacheIncubation period ranges from 10 days to 7 years. The average incubation period is 3 to 7 weeks.

24. 2 human casesEven though human rabies cases are very rare in this country, prevention efforts are imperative because once the symptoms appear very few people survive the disease

25. Prevention Efforts It’s a wild animal’s dream come true when food drops from the sky. An Oral Rabies vaccine is concealed in flavorful morsels and scattered throughout wildlife habitats from airplanes.

26. Rabies in humans is 100% preventable, yet worldwide more than 55,000 people die from this disease every year. That’s equal to 1 person every 10 minutes, so by the time this class is over today an average of 9 people throughout the world will have succumbed to this disease. In 2006, the global Alliance for Rabies Control was formed to raise awareness and become part of the effort to eliminate this horrible disease.