The study shows that rabies is not always lethal. This understanding, if backed and deepened by further studies, could lead to new treatments. The work implies that some people escape infection after exposure to a small amount of the virus, but Gilbert says it is not clear from the researcher's work if the Peruvians developed true immunity to the virus. Instead the presence of antibodies indicates possible previous non-fatal infection. For now, prevention is the most effective strategy to combat rabies.
Efforts to stamp out the disease through programs that vaccinate domesticated animals such as dogs are largely successful in developed countries, but the rabies virus still kills 55,000 people each year according to the World Health Organization. About 81 percent of rabies outbreaks in Peru from 1996 to 2010 were linked to vampire bat bites, according to the Peruvian Ministry of Health (pdf in Spanish). Vampire bats regularly prey on livestock, but will feed on humans if given the opportunity.
Despite the typically dire consequences, a few individuals have apparently survived rabies infection of the central immune system. An Alaskan trapper may have developed immunity after years of skinning foxes. In 2011, an eight-year-old Californian girl developed the characteristic throat spasms that prevent eating and drinking, traditionally called hydrophobia. The infection reached her cerebrospinal fluid and brain. After intensive care, she made a full recovery.
Most notably, a Wisconsin teenager survived CNS infection after a creative physician put her in a medically induced coma and then administered the anti-rabies virus treatment. He hoped to slow the creep of the disease and give her body a chance to fight back. Since then, several physicians have tried the Milwaukee protocol, but none have replicated the first success.
The discovery of natural antibodies and possible immunity in the Peruvians should not slow efforts to eradicate the disease, Gilbert emphasizes. "Despite finding antibodies in these persons, we don't consider them protected," she says. An editorial that accompanies the research paper echoes her thoughts. The writer, Rodney Willoughby, a physician at the Medical College of Wisconsin, created the Milwaukee protocol. He writes that this discovery is "an opportunity for novel therapeutics" and should spur researchers to find a rabies cure.
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9 Comments
Add Comment"Bites from Vampire Bats Might Protect People against Rabies"
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisThe bad part is that you won't show up in a mirror anymore and are doomed to walk the earth as a living dead.
So, who want's to volunteer for a fun science project?
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisHa! In a dozen years in Latin America, I've been bitten five times by bats. (Costa Rica, Nicaragua, Ecuador) Believe me, I wasn't very happy to discover the bites in the morning.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisReading this gives me a touch of emotional relief - wonder if I have developed any antibodies against rabies?
Z
Quite interesting. I would be cool to see if the genes have actually changed to encapsulate a rabies resistant gene caused by the repeated rabies exposure. Who knows, they could be a population that is postively favored by natural selection...
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisI would take the rabies shot since the article points out that CNS infection is sometimes delayed since the virus moves slowly along the nervous system and not through the bloodstream but once it is in the CNS it is fatal.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisIn theory , couldn't a person fight off an infection and live ? The body is designed to do just that. If a person were , say , more inclined to fight off , mount and EFFECTIVE immune response then the person may , have the time TO ,develope the antibodies , due to the fact they were not killed ?
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to this"Lactoferrin, an iron-binding glycoprotein synthesized by neutrophils and Lactoferrin, an iron-binding glycoprotein synthesized by neutrophils and exocrine glands, plays an important role in human innate defense mechanisms against bacteria, fungi, and viruses.
exocrine glands, plays an important role in human innate defense mechanisms against bacteria, fungi, and viruses."
This 'window' , survival , would have given them that immunity to rabies ? The immune system is based on the removal of iron from an invader , virus or bacteria by the lactoferrin and IF these people were low in iron and DID mount an effective response , IE: anemia of chronic disease / lactoferrin / iron sequestration away from the rabies virus , THEN the person would naturally gain the antibodies , survival induced , and be able to suppress any further onslaughts by this virus ? BUT when one ISN'T able to mount this effective defence , anemia of chronic disease , THEN the virus kills you , and the antibodies are obviously therefore of little use ?
The body produces a substance which stops virus' at the door. Lactoferrin.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to this"Lactoferrin probably exerts its effect at the level of viral adsorption"
Lactoferrin removes iron , a requirement of virus , bacteria , fungi and thereby disallowing the virus to establish itself in the body , IE: anemia of chronic disease.
"Antimicrobial and antiinflammatory effect of lactoferrin by chelation of iron"
When lactoferrin is partially saturated , its ability to stop the invasion is diminished greatly.
"Low iron-saturated LF effectively combats bacteria and fungi, acting in a bacteriostatic and fungistatic way. The degree of iron saturation also influences antiviral activity of LF. "
When the body has too much iron the lactoferrin becomes saturated and cannot stop the invader at the door .
"Characterization of antiviral activity of lactoferrin against hepatitis C virus infection in human cultured cells"
"The results suggest that iron deposition in hepatocytes could facilitate HCV infection in the liver"
"Lactoferrin inhibits hepatitis C virus viremia in patients with chronic hepatitis C: a pilot study."
Lactoferrin is a globular protein found in milk and many mucosal secretions such as tears. Its molecular atomic mass is 80,000 u (80 kD). This protein belongs to the transferrin family proteins (transferrin, melanotransferrin, ovotransferin, etc.) showing a high
affinity by iron (ferric state). Lactoferrin is a multifunctional protein with antimicrobial activity (bacteriocide, fungicide) and is part of the innate defense proteins mainly at mucoses. ...
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lactoferrin
These two studies seem to go against everything we have been told about hepatitis ? They tell us we cannot pass the virus by anything but blood but these studies refute this. So does it mean , HIV , too , is passed in the sweat ?
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to this"Hepatitis C virus replicates in sweat glands and is released into sweat in patients with chronic hepatitis C."
"Findings from a study of Olympic wrestlers indicate that hepatitis B is found in the sweat of infected individuals, and so sweating might be a way that the virus could be passed between participants in contact sports."
This is an example of excess iron and its effects on a virus.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to this"Researcher with hereditary hemochromatosis who died from laboratory-acquired plague"
This scientist had iron overload and by working with the vaccine , it became virulent BECAUSE he had this iron load , and it killed him.
He should be hailed as a hero.
"Hereditary Hemochromatosis Restores the Virulence of Plague Vaccine Strains."
"Should not be exposed to live-attenuated plague vaccines"