we nevertheless cannot wholly free ourselves from the fear," they write. In this critically acclaimed exploration, journalist Bill Wasik and veterinarian Monica Murphy chart four thousand years of the history. "Rabies has receded to become a sort of spectral presence, a ghost story. The most fatal virus known to science, rabies-a disease that spreads avidly from animals to humans-kills nearly one hundred percent of its victims once the infection takes root in the brain. Powerful cultural legacyĪnd yet, the perceived threat of rabies still has a powerful cultural resonance, building upon thousands of years of human history.Īs Wasik and Murphy write in Rabid, the way the virus ravages its victims and targets our most trusted family companions - immortalized in films like Disney's Old Yeller and Stephen King's Cujo - contribute to our heightened concern. These incidents line up with the findings of a 2008 paper on bat-transmitted rabies published in the journal of Clinical Infectious Diseases, which said young adult males are more at risk if they practice activities that increase their potential exposure to bats, adding they "may be less inclined to seek medical attention or prophylaxis should a contact, even a bite, occur," because the "cryptic" nature of bat bites can make them easy to miss.ĭespite this, the paper found the incidence of bat-transmitted rabies in humans in Canada very limited: there were only six such cases from 1950 to 2008. man who later died from rabies: health officer Find signed collectible books: Rabid: A Cultural History of the Worlds Most.
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