APPENDIX B. 



HYDROPHOBIA. 



SYNONYMS. RABIES : FRENCH, LA EAGE : GERMAN, LYSSA, 

 DIE HUNDWUTH, DIE TOLLWUTH. 



Introductory. Hydrophobia is an infectious disease which in 

 nature occurs epidemically chiefly among the carnivora, especi- 

 ally in the dog and the wolf. Infection is carried by the bite 

 <>t' a rabid animal or by a wound or abrasion being licked by 

 such. The disease can be transferred to other species, and 

 \vhrn once started can be spread from individual to individual 

 by the same paths of infection. Thus it occurs epidemically 

 from time to time in cattle, sheep, horses, and deer, and can be 

 communicated to man. It is questionable whether infection 

 can take place from man to man, as the saliva of a person 

 suffering from hydrophobia appears not to contain the virus. 

 It is to be noted that the virus is apparently extremely potent, 

 a- cases of infection taking place through an unabraded mucous 

 membrane by the licking of a rabid animal are on record, and the 

 experimental applications of the virus to such surfaces as the 

 mucous membrane of the nose or the conjunctiva is often followed 

 by infection. 



In Western Europe the disease is most frequently observed 

 in the dog; but in Eastern Europe, especially in Russia, 

 epidemics among wolves constitute a serious danger both to 

 other animals and to man. All the manifestations of the disease 

 point to a serious affection of the nervous system : but inasmuch 

 as symptoms of excitement or of depression may predominate, 

 it is customary to describe clinically two varieties of rabies, (1) 

 rabies proper, or furious rabies (la raye vraie, la rar/e furieuse : 

 ill', ratk a' I- \\'utk) ', and (2) dumb madness or paralytic rabies (la 

 f">/>' mue : die stille Wuth). The disease, however, is essentially 

 the same in both cases. In the dog the furious form is the 

 more common. After a period of incubation of from three to 



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