Doctors from the University Hospital in Oslo suspect that rabies was the cause of the recent death of one of the patients hospitalized there. This would be the first time this serious disease has appeared in Norway in almost 200 years.
– It is not absolutely certain that the woman was killed by the rabies virus, but the disease is so dangerous that we could not risk it and took all the necessary steps. The deceased’s family – and the medical staff who came in contact with her – had received antitoxin and a series of vaccines, said Karin Ronning, a spokesman for the Institute of Public Health (Folkehelseinstituttet).
The deceased patient was from Asia, but had been living in Norway for several years. A blood test showed antibodies against RABV, but this could be due to vaccination done in the past.
According to WHO data, 55 die of rabies each year in the world. people, most in India. In the USA, these are 2–4 people a year, usually bitten by bats. It is also possible to become infected by inhaling aerosols formed in caves and caves from the faeces of these animals.
The disease is characterized by a very long latency period (on average from 1 to 3 months – extremely from 10 days to over a year). A sick person is also contagious to those around him.
To date, there have been fewer than 5 cases of recovery in people who developed symptoms of the disease. In 2004, the first patient who fell ill with rabies and was not vaccinated was saved – it was a 15-year-old girl, bitten and infected by a bat.
In Poland, the last case of human death due to rabies took place in 2000 – she died 59-year-old woman bitten by her own cat.
Source: The Local