SECTION IV 



DISEASES OP UNKNOWN ETIOLOGY 



CHAPTER XLVII 



RABIES 

 (Hydrophobia, Rage, Lyssa, Hundswuth) 



Rabies is primarily a disease of animals, infectious for practically- 

 all the mammalia, but most prevalent among carnivora, dogs, cats, and 

 wolves. It is said also to occur spontaneously among skunks of the 

 southwestern United States, and is readily inoculable upon guinea-pigs, 

 rabbits, mice, rats, and certain birds, chickens and geese being especially 

 susceptible. Man is subject to the disease. Infection usually occurs as 

 a consequence of the saliva of rabid animals gaining entrance to wounds 

 from bites or scratches. The disease is prevalent to an alarming extent 

 in all civilized countries except England, where the careful supervision of 

 dogs, enforcement of muzzling laws, and rigid legislation regarding the 

 importation of dogs, have caused a practical eradication of the disease 

 in that country. A fair estimate of the prevalence of the disease may 

 be obtained from the statistics of animals dying or killed because of 

 rabies in different countries. In Germany, according to Kolle and 

 Hetsch, during the fifteen years ending in 1901, there were 9,069 dogs, 

 1,664 cattle, 191 sheep, 110 horses, 175 hogs, 79 cats, 16 goats, 1 mule, 

 andl fox affected with rabies. In the eastern United States the dis- 

 ease is not uncommon. The statistics of the New York Department 

 of Health, for a period of six months ending December 31, 1907, show 

 74 cases of rabies among dogs in the city of New York and vicinity. 

 Among human beings the disease is no longer common in civilized 

 countries, since early preventive treatment is successfully applied in 

 almost all infected subjects. 



Experimental infection in susceptible animals is best carried out by 

 injections of a salt-solution emulsion of the brain or spinal cord of an 



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