CHAPTER XXIII 

 RABIES AND ACTINOMYCOSIS 



Rabies. As has been shown, the losses from Texas fever 

 are nrrdl. -ss, since ways are known by which it can be com- 

 pletely eradicated. Rabies is a disease that likewise could 

 be made to disappear, if simple procedures that could easily 

 be carried out were enforced. 



The disease is primarily one of the flesh-eating animals, 

 but is transmissible to all mammals through the bite of a 

 rabid animal. In reality it is transmitted almost wholly by 

 dogs, since the dog is the only animal that is allowed to 

 run about freely. It is found in most parts of the world ; 

 Australia and England are the only countries that are 

 known to be free from it, and they, are kept so through, the 

 rigid enforcement of wise quarantine regulations with refer- 

 ence to the importation of dogs. In the United States it 

 has spread rapidly in the last few years, until at present 

 it is found from the Atlantic to the Pacific. In 1908 it is 

 known to have caused the death of 111 people. It is also 

 of considerable economic importance because of the loss of 

 domestic animals. The sanitary and economic aspects of 

 the disease are small when compared with some others, but 

 all loss is so unnecessary that it seems advisable to discuss 

 the disease in some detail, especially since there are so 

 many misconceptions concerning it. 



The virus, of unknown nature, is known to be present in 

 the saliva, the vitreous humor of the eye, lymph, milk, urine, 

 and the peripheral nervous system. The presence of the 

 virus in the saliva is the explanation of the transmission 



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