World Rabies Day Aims At Rabies Awareness
Saturday, September 8th, is World Rabies Day, to raise people's awareness about the disease--rabies still kills 55,000 people every year. Steve Mirsky reports. For more info, go to www.worldrabiesday.org
SUBSCRIBE TO Science Quickly
On supporting science journalism
If you're enjoying this article, consider supporting our award-winning journalism by subscribing. By purchasing a subscription you are helping to ensure the future of impactful stories about the discoveries and ideas shaping our world today.
The hair of the dog. It’s a shot of alcohol drunk to stop the headache from all the alcohol drunk last night. But the phrase hair of the dog was originally related to a far more frightening scenario. Before Louis Pasteur came up with his rabies inoculation, people bitten by rabid dogs would try to kill the animal and then literally apply the hair of the dog to the wound. Other attempts to treat rabies included eating the hair, or heart or liver. Fortunately, Pasteur’s cure now exists, but 55,000 people still die of rabies every year. Saturday, September 8th has been designated as World Rabies Day, in an attempt to raise awareness about the disease.
Most of the deaths occur in Africa and Asia, and almost half the victims are kids under the age of 15. Most human cases are still from dog bites, with the dogs having picked up rabies from wild animals, such as bats, skunks or raccoons. The good news is that painful abdominal shots have been replaced by shots in the arm. For more info, go to worldrabiesday.org.
Subscribe to Support Independent Journalism
Great science journalism requires human expertise, time, effort and creativity. And it costs money. That’s why I and the journalists here at Scientific American hope you’ll join our community.
When you subscribe, you are supporting staff and freelance journalists who are passionate about telling science stories that are true, important and compelling. Our editors and reporters are often experts in their fields, which means they understand the nuances of big discoveries and can untangle the breakthroughs from the hype. With a subscription, you are also supporting rigorous fact-checking to ensure the words we publish are precise and accurate. And you’re supporting original illustrations, graphics and photos that bring you closer to an advanced laboratory, an ice sheet in Antarctica or a space mission in orbit. You’re helping us craft other types of high-quality journalism as well: Our newsletters are carefully written, edited and curated by staffers you have or will come to know and love. Our Science Quickly podcast is based on original reporting, collaboration with editors and scientists and exacting production.
Subscriptions keep this engine running so we can continue to deliver thoughtful, rigorous and independent science journalism to you. In an era of viral misinformation, this work is crucial. If you value what we do, I hope you’ll consider joining us as a subscriber
