Corden T E, Kazmierczak J J
Department of Pediatrics, University of Wisconsin, H4/CSC, 600 Highland Ave, Madison, WI 53792-4108, USA.
WMJ. 2000 Dec;99(9):47-50.
Rabies is an almost uniformly fatal encephalomyelitis with no treatment option other than supportive care for those who contract the illness. Mortality worldwide is estimated to be 40,000-70,000 people annually. Fortunately, public health measures begun in the 1940s and 1950s regarding vaccination and control of domestic animals in this country and the availability of safe and effective rabies postexposure prophylaxis treatment (RPEP) for humans has made rabies a rare disease in the United States. Community healthcare providers continue to play a pivotal role in the prevention of this devastating disease. This article emphasizes the challenges that the evolving epidemiology of rabies presents to our healthcare system, especially regarding international travel, the importance of domestic animal vaccination against rabies, the use and cost of RPEP, recent rabies epizootics in wildlife populations and the role of bats in disease transmission.
狂犬病是一种几乎必然致命的脑脊髓炎，对于感染该病的患者，除了支持性治疗外没有其他治疗选择。据估计，全球每年有4万至7万人死于狂犬病。幸运的是，美国在20世纪40年代和50年代开始实施的关于家畜疫苗接种和控制的公共卫生措施，以及为人类提供安全有效的狂犬病暴露后预防治疗（RPEP），使得狂犬病在美国成为一种罕见疾病。社区医疗服务提供者在预防这种毁灭性疾病方面继续发挥关键作用。本文强调了狂犬病不断演变的流行病学给我们的医疗系统带来的挑战，特别是在国际旅行方面，家畜狂犬病疫苗接种的重要性，RPEP的使用和成本，野生动物群体最近的狂犬病流行以及蝙蝠在疾病传播中的作用。
