What is rabies?

Animal bites always leads to the fear of contracting rabies, and newspapers readily report rabies outbreaks. Have you ever wondered what makes rabies so newsworthy? What makes rabies a serious infection? How does it affect our body? What countermeasures
do we have to fight it? This video explores the answers to all of these questions.

This video was made by McMaster students Archita Srinath, Haider Abed, Akshay Venkatesh, Kyra Posterski, and Cindy Li in collaboration with the McMaster Demystifying Medicine Program.

This video is provided for general and educational information only. Please consult your health care provider for Information about your health.

Copyright McMaster University 2016

References
Dietzschold, B., Faber, M., & Schnell, M. J. (2003). New approaches to the prevention and eradication of rabies. Expert review of vaccines , 2 (3), 399406.

Hemachudha, T., Laothamatas, J., & Rupprecht, C. E. (2002). Human rabies: a disease of complex neuropathogenetic mechanisms and diagnostic challenges. The Lancet Neurology, 1(2), 101109.

Leung, A. K., Davies, H. D., & Hon, K. L. E. (2007). Rabies: epidemiology, pathogenesis, and prophylaxis. Advances in therapy, 24(6), 13401347.

Lite, J. (2008). Medical Mystery: Only One Person Has Survived Rabies without Vaccine But How?. Scientific American, 4.

Pleasure, S. J., & Fischbein, N. J. (2000). Correlation of clinical and neuroimaging findings in a case of rabies encephalitis. Archives of neurology , 57 (12), 17651769.

Schnell, M. J., McGettigan, J. P., Wirblich, C., & Papaneri, A. (2010). The cell biology of rabies virus: using stealth to reach the brain. Nature Reviews Microbiology , 8 (1), 5161.

[architasrinath]

I narrated this video for this class and I can confirm that I was getting over a bad case of bronchitis at the time LOL sorry about the voice!

[ejstephens]

Chill on this girl, she probably was sick and had a stuffy nose.

[michaelgeorge]

So, someone takes the effort to attain information, create a graphical representation, and put it all together for educational purposes and all we do is critique her voice? What have we become? We don't need diseases to kill, our human nature is toxic enough. To the woman who narrated this video, job well done and I personally love your voice ❤️

[ukwnjae]

I actually got bitten by a rabid dog when I was a kid. I was about like 9 or 12 and it was right on the back side of my leg where the knee is 🦵🏽. I was walking to my bus for school when this random dog with foam from its mouth and red eyes bit and dragged me a good two feet before the bus driver helped. My leg was so weak I could barely put weight on it and I felt very tired after that. I immediately told my pops and I was rushed to the clinic where they gave me all the shots necessary. I had no idea how fatal and crazy Rabies can be so now I’m just so astonished that I survived this horrible infection and I used to have a gnarly scar where the bite mark was but it’s really hard to find now. I’m 23 years old today.

[joanarafaelaferreira]

Didn't even notice the voice until I read the comments...

[danielb]

Fun fact: In Russian there is one word for violent rage and for the Rabies, and its origin links it to the word "imp/demon"

[shivamkumar]

Once even the slightest symptoms appear its too late and death is certain and horrible death awaits

[kellenbrennan-piggybanks]

Yep, I knew it, I’ve had rabies my entire life

[khlothostonney]

a lot scarier than covid. the fact that dogs living with you were 90% of the reason for infection is extremely worrisome. and that so many people died so fast from rabies, much faster rate than covid, scarry!!

[dash]

Question: does the rabies virus cause aggression intentionally? It it a method of spreading in animals where it makes them more aggressive so they bite things and the virus spread?

[evilwifu]

What if a mad scientist is working on making the virus airborne rn?? like he wants the zombie apocalypse to be real and the world to end 😂

[-WhizzBang-]

Rabies is one of the deadliest viruses known to man. It treatment is not administered before symptoms start, a horrible and painful death is pretty much certain!

[PrincesaLunez]

I was hoping to read some educational and interesting comments about this after seeing a rabid coyote but when I scrolled down, all I see is a bunch of negative comments saying "blow your I think she would know if her nose is stuffed and would have done that before recording. 🙄 Can y'all be any more ignorant??
i dont know if she is sick or not but for me, my nose is smaller on the inside and I have asthma so when I talk, my voice is very soft and my words don't always articulate right so I find it very disrespectful reading all of these rude comments when she literally has nothing wrong and y'all are just judgemental af. If you don't like her voice, just say it and say why nicely. don't be like "blow your nose"... that's not how to talk to people especially when you don't even know what's actually going on or why she sounds that way. I'm pretty sure most of y'all wouldn't say that if y'all weren't hiding behind your computer screen 🤷‍♀️

[Irate_Beau]

that hand-holding-a-sharpie.png is really getting put through its paces!

[toocompettoochill]

This perfectly explained what I was curious about. Thank you for this video, be blessed 🧙‍♂️

[lanceleader]

What a terrifying disease. I couldn’t imagine dying from encephalitis. The pain must be excruciating.

[RZRX]

I got bit by a bat at work today and was immediately sent by my boss to the emergency room. Now here I am watching this because the doctors are freaking me out saying it's very deadly

[Strangerthingsdabomb]

My cat died from Rabies :C she was so kind my dad took her to the vet she got so scared she was so mean but she couldn’t help it she was in pain I miss her they had to put her down she was my best friend :C

[samrovicdantic]

i got bitten by a dog in my nose and aslmost on my left eye and i dont want to tell my mom

[ZNTY]

Should I get the shot or am I just a hypochondriac?

Was in the backyard with my dad, who was brushing the pool with a broom. Evening, skies were cloudy and looked stormy to the right of where I was standing in the yard. Felt what felt like rainwater from a slight sprinkle land onto my wrist. (Which was possible, given the weather.) Looked down at my wrist, saw a slight, very tiny puff near an also miniature bullseye. Did not see anything fly at me, did not feel anything other than the, “bite.” There wasn’t any pain or itchiness, just the mark. The mark very shortly went away. Dad says that I was just imagining the wound and it was poolwater from whatever he was doing that landed on my wrist. I shouldn’t be stressed to tears that a tiny, rabid bat bit me and then flew away but here we are

oh i forgot to mention - i live in gilbert, az, just to clarify