Although the disease is more prevalent in tropical countries, it occurs worldwide, and its incidence is ever increasing.
The disease is usually caused by the bite of a rabid dog. The virus of rabies is present in the saliva of the rabid dog, and when such a dog bites a person, the saliva infected with the rabies-virus is transmitted into the body of the victim.
Although the disease commonly occurs through the bite of a rabid dog, it may also manifest itself following the bite of a cat, wolf, jackal, monkey, cow, buffalo, etc. However, rat-bite does not cause rabies.
A bite is the usual mode of transmission of the disease. However, it may also occur if virus-laden saliva comes in contact with broken skin or a wound, or if one is licked by an infected animal. After being bitten by a rabid dog, the rabies virus becomes sequestered, i.e. it remains dormant at the site of the bite, without causing any harm to the patient. From here the virus travels slowly along the nerves of the bitten extremity, and reaches the central nervous system. It is interesting to note that while the virus travels along the nerves, it does not cause any significant damage to these nerves. On the other hand, it causes extensive damage to the central nervous system, making the condition of the patient horrible. It may, therefore, be said that the rabies virus truly acts like a thief. It gets into the body and ~limbs to the central nervous system with the help of the nerves, without causing any serious harm either to the nerves or to the site of the bite from where it has entered.
The virus also reaches the salivary glands through the nerves and reaches the saliva either of the man or of the animal whom a rabid animal has bitten. This is how the disease is transmitted through the saliva of a rabid animal. However, transmission from man to man does not occur. But, at the same time, all precautions must be taken by the family members/ friends and all others who come in contact with the patient. They should all take preventive measures and, in any case, the saliva of the patient containing virus, should not come in their contact especially with a wound/ abrasion/ cut, otherwise they are also likely to be infected. Gloves, aprons, face-masks, caps, glasses, etc., should be used. When the patient becomes violent, he may spit saliva on the persons/attendants standing nearby. Moreover, there is also excessive secretion of saliva in these cases.
Following the bite, urgent steps of treatment, i.e., care of the wound, etc., including vaccination are required to be taken, so that the disease does not manifest itself in clinical form. Once the clinical manifestations appear, the patient dies within seven days. However, the following symptomatology of the disease is required to be known to all so that those who are still ignorant can be helped, and necessary early steps of treatment can be taken, with the hope of saving the life of the afflicted person.
The inflammation of your lungs is known in medical terms as pneumonia. This is the result of bacterial infection or a virus infection. A person usually develops pneumonia when his/ her defense system is weak, mostly this weakness coming from an upper respiratory infection or just a cold or the flu. However, you have to keep in mind that these conditions do not cause pneumonia, just make you more likely to develop it. The flu, a cold or an upper respiratory infection alter your mucous blanket and thus they encourage the growth of bacteria that ultimately leads to pneumonia. These are the most important factors that lead to pneumonia, however there are also some other conditions or factors that can have pneumonia as a result.
There are several ways to define pneumonia. Depending on its location in your lungs or the origin of the infection, there are different names and ways of treatment. Pneumonia can be defined in two ways when it comes to the location of this disease in you lings: there is lombar pneumonia, that happens in one lobe of your lungs and you can also suffer from broncho pneumonia, that tends to be uneven. Pneumonia can also be defined by the origin of your infection. In this case there are two main categories that can predict what are the organisms most likely to be the culprits. The first category is: community acquired, that means that pneumonia is contacted outside hospitals. In this cases, pneumonia is usually the result of a viral infection of your respiratory system. This type of pneumonia affects almost four million people every year. The main cause of this pneumonia type is a bacteria caused streptococcus. Other bacteria like mycoplasma or chlamydia are also some of the possible causes of pneumonia that is community acquired. The second category of pneumonia is: hospital acquired. This type of pneumonia is also known as nosocomial pneumonia. People that are in hospital become very vulnerable to negative bacteria and these are the main causes of pneumonia in this case.
Moreover, there are also different ways of disease process that consequently lead to pneumonia. In most of the cases, a person inhales the bacteria that causes pneumonia and this enters the lungs. However, one can also aspire the bacteria that is found in his/ her mouth, usually when a gag reflex is repressed. Another way that one can get pneumonia is from the infections that he/ she has in other organs. The bacteria travels through your bloodstream and reaches the lungs causing pneumonia.
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