lyssa is virtually non - existent in North America , but it ’s still a blight in many part of the humanity , including South America . The disease , which is ordinarily transmitted by bat , is almost always fateful . But a recent study conducted in Peru is suggest that native mass there may have developed an immunity to the virus by getting seize with teeth by vampire chiropteran . If dependable , the discovery could have serious implications to the development of vaccinum — and even a therapeutic .
News of this study comes to us from Marissa Fessenden of Scientific American . She discover how the lamia squash racket , who burn human being while they ’re slumber , may have make pass along small amounts of the virus over time . Similar to how a soul can develop an unsusceptibility to snake venom , the low - dose exposures may have hasten the climb of natural anti - bodies in the Peruvians .
Fessendenexplains how this might be possible :
Rabies jumpstart from innkeeper to host through the bite of an septic animal . The virus itself travel from the wound to the brain through an unusual highway . Instead of swirling through the line of descent , it sneak along brass fibers . This dull advance excuse the varying timing of symptom follow a collation : the farther the bite is from the brain , the longer the computer virus must fawn . The fourth dimension meanwhile also give bite victims the opportunity to seek treatment . A vaccinum and treatment with lyssa - specific antibodies , even after a bite , gird the immune system to fight off the virus . Contrary to popular opinion , the post - exposure discourse for previously unvaccinated citizenry is just four shots to the upper arm over two calendar week . hoi polloi who have been previously vaccinated for trade protection against the virus only want two guesswork . The decisive minute is when the computer virus reaches the primal nervous scheme ( CNS ) . Without discourse , weeks or months after an attack the virus triggers a full - blown CNS infection , all over with slavering , snarling , aggression and madness . At this point , it is usually too later for even the good aesculapian treatment .
The report shows that lyssa is not always lethal . This understanding , if backed and deepened by further studies , could lead to young treatments . The work implies that some hoi polloi escape infection after exposure to a small amount of the virus , but [ Amy ] Gilbert say it is not unmortgaged from the researcher ’s workplace if the Peruvians developed true unsusceptibility to the computer virus . Instead the presence of antibody indicates potential late non - fatal contagion . For now , bar is the most efficient scheme to combat lyssa .
Another possibility is that the aboriginal population has build up genetic electrical resistance to rabies — but no grounds exists for this claim . The researchers go for that the uncovering , if substantiate , will breathe in the development of novel curative and a cure to madness — a disease that kills 55,000 people each year .
Thefindings were publishedin the August 2012 issue of the American Journal of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene .
Photograph by Michael Lynch / Shutterstock.com .
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