Robert J. Bower, age 12, of Williamsport, Pennsylvania, for his question:
How do animals get rabies?
It is possible for animals to get rabies at any time of the year, though most cases are reported during the summer. This is the busy season when winter hibernators are out and about and all animals are actively engaged in bringing up families. The dread disease is caused by a virus communicated from animal to animal. Hence, it is most likely to spread during the busy season. So this is the time to learn how we can do our share in the struggle to control it.
The first battle against rabies was won by the great Louis Pasteur. This was in the 1880s and a few years later the virus that causes the dread disease was identified. Not much successful research on its nature has been done since that time. Pasteur revealed the basic facts and pointed the way to treat and control it. These problems are enormous because rabies occurs mainly in animals living freely in the wild and from there it spreads to infect our communities. We can inoculate our pet dogs and cats with Pasteur's anti rabies vaccine. But science has no such preventive shot for humans. Persons who get bitten by a rabid animal must suffer through long and painful treatment and success is not guaranteed.
The germs that cause rabies were named negri bodies in honor of the scientists who first identified them. This virus measures only one to 20 microns, small enough to filter through the fine pores of a porcelain container. It multiplies only in moist tissues of warm blooded animals. It enters open wounds, teems in the saliva and attacks the nerve and brain tissues of its suffering victim.
Two main factors cause the disease to spread. One is the agonizing pain that triggers its victims to attack and bite every living creature within range. Even a gentle pet dog attacks friends and foes, including his beloved human family. And every bite or scratch injects saliva, teeming with rabies, into the moist flesh of the next victim.
The unfortunate symptom of ferocity accounts for the major spread of rabies in the wilds. Rabid bats, squirrels and other normally docile creatures go on the rampage. Suffering drives out fear of even their natural enemies. An infected rabbit may attack and bite his mortal enemy the coyote. And, as a member of the dog family, the coyote is prone to a severe rabies attack. In his agony, he also is more prone to spread the disease.
Dogs and cats who explore outdoors face surprise attacks from rabid animals. But we can protect them which explains why we make absolutely sure they get their anti rabies shots on schedule. This vaccine makes them immune and unable to spread the infection. Rabies is a fatal disease and infected animals are destroyed to end their suffering and protect others. If your dog comes under a cloud of suspicion, produce proof that he has had his shots. Otherwise the health authorities will order him quarantined or possibly even destroyed.
We cannot, of course, give anti rabies shots to all the susceptible animal populations in the wilds. However, health authorities work overtime to check and control possible outbreaks. These worthy folk run the risk of infection themselves. The vaccine that protects our pets does not protect people and so far nothing has been found to make us immune.