Rabies Battle Plans

Rabies (meaning madness) is a neurological disease that causes very serious inflammation (encephalitis). This is when the brain reddens and swells causing extreme headaches, fever and confusion. Rabies is often lethal when it gets to its latest stages, its transmitted from affected animals (mostly dogs and bats) onto humans though saliva via scratches and bites. Early symptoms include fever and tingling ate the site of the bite. When systems of fear of water, violent movements, uncontrolled excitement or lack of conciousness start to show, often within one to three months, it is an indication that the victim is unlikely to survive.

Rabies causes around 40,000 deaths per year and has spread to over 150 countries. Recently though, a study from Tel Avive University found to precise pathway that the pathway takes to the central nervous system (CNS) where it erupts into the symptoms. The study was conducted by Dr. Eran Perlson and Shai Gluska.

"Rabies not only hijacks the nervous system’s machinery, it also manipulates that machinery to move faster," said Dr. Perlson. "We have shown that rabies enters a neuron in the peripheral nervous system by binding to a nerve growth factor receptor, responsible for the health of neurons, called p75. The difference is that its transport is very fast, even faster than that of its endogenous ligand, the small molecules that travel regularly along the neuron and keep the neuron healthy." 

Rabies, as it turns out, hijacks the transport system of the neurones. The transport system, consisting of the cytoskeleton, is used to move around cell contents so that it can function. The researches 'saw' the virus hijacking the system and head straight towards the spinal cored (part of the CNS).


"A tempting premise is to use this same machinery to introduce drugs or genes into the nervous system," Dr. Perlson added. This is a very rapid system of transport and is one of the reasons why rabies quickly becomes deadly. However, Dr Perlson points out that we could take advantage of this mechanism to create the next generation of faster acting and efficient pharmaceuticals. Knowledge of such pathways can also help us with the elimination of neurodegenerative disease like Alzheimers and Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS). 

Now there's something to stroke your goatee on!






Sources
http://inside-the-brain.com/tag/rabies/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rabies
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Encephalitis
http://www.aftau.org/weblog-medicine--health?=&storyid4704=2113&ncs4704=3

Images
http://www.ijm.fr/recherche/equipes/trafic-membranaire-normal-pathologique/