Rabies is a terrible disease. The virus usually enters the body through a bite from an animal thnt has the disease. The bite might not seem serious at first. Then, however, the virus moves to the brain, and the person starts to feel sick. The victim might have hallucinations' and other psychological symptoms. In the second stage of the disease, the victim is sometimes afraid of water and cannot drink. Finally, the rabies victim loses consciousness and dies
For thousands of years, rabies meant certain death. Any bite from n strange animal caused great fear. Then, in 1885, a famous French biologist, Louis Pasteur, developed a vaccine. The vaccine stopped the rabies virus. However, it only worked if the victim was given the vaccine at an early stage. In some cases, people did not get the vaccine soon enough. Then rabies symptoms appeared. The vaccine did not work at later stages, and the victim died
get bites from Today, people still die from rabies. People often animals, but they usually do not believe the bite is a serious problem The bite might not hurt much, so the person doesn't go to the doctor. By the time the person finds out that he or she has rabies, it is too late.
The story of Jennna Giose is a typical example. One Sunday in September of 2005, the 15-year-old girl saw a bat at church She wanted to help the bat, so she picked it up The bat bit hor finger. It was just a little bite, and Jeanna forgot all about it.
About a month later,Jeanna's arm felt strange. She also felt tired About a month later, Jeanna's arm felt strange. and had a headache. Then she began losing consciousness. Her mother took her to the doctor for tests. The symptoms worried the doctors. Then Jeanna's mother remembered the bat bite.
The doctors conducted tests to diagnose the problem. The news was not good. Jeanna had rabies. There was nothing they could do. Everything in the medical literature said there was no cure at this stage. Jeanna was going to die.
However, one of Jeannn's doctors at the Children's Hospital in Milwaukee, Dr. Rodney Willoughby, did not want to stop trying. He studied rabies and its progress. Rabies is dnngerous because it takes over the brain quickly. Dr. Willoughby decided to try an unusual procedure. He wanted to stop the virus from reaching Jeanna's brain, so he put her in a coma. He hoped that by"turning off her brain for a few days, he could give her immune system enough time to fight the disease.
Jeanna slept while her family and doctors waited in fear. After one week, Jeanna's immune system was fighting the virus on its own. After three more days, Jeanna opened her eyes and recognized her mother. She was alive. Dr. Willoughby's experiment had worked.
Jeanna spent two years recovering. She had to learn to talk again and to do many other things. Today, she is like other normal young women. However, there is one difference: Jeanna Giese is the first and only unvaccinated human in history to survive rabies