• Question: What is the most fatal zoonotic diseases ?Why?

    Asked by to Keith, Hannah on 19 Jun 2014. This question was also asked by .
    • Photo: Hannah Tanner

      Hannah Tanner answered on 19 Jun 2014:

      I don’t know if it’s “the most fatal zoonotic disease” but rabies is pretty bad.

      You can get rabies virus by being bitten by or licked on an open wound by an animal with the virus. If you get the virus it is more or less 100% fatal and there is no treatment that helps you once you have it.

      Rabies can be prevented by getting vaccinated before you get bitten or by getting treated with a different kind of vaccination (immunoglobulin) immediately after being bitten.

      Rabies kills you by damaging your central nervous system (your brain and spinal cord).

    • Photo: Keith Grehan

      Keith Grehan answered on 19 Jun 2014:

      Agree 100% with Hannah, rabies is a really bad disease that still affects lots of people in the developing world. In wealthier countries (like us) the availability of vaccines has made us almost forget about rabies because the treatment is so good.
      But unfortunately rabies is still causing more than 25,000 deaths each year which is why there is still lots of research looking at ways to make better and better vaccines. The vaccine that you get pre-exposure (before you get bitten) doesn’t last long and this is real problem as in poor parts of the world people cant go for new vaccines every year.
      Rabies causes inflammation (swelling and heating) of the brain and nervous tissue (spine) it also causes a lot of pain and can cause animals with it (and sometimes people) to be become really aggressive. this is part of what makes it so dangerous as an aggressive animal will bite and so will spread the rabies.

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