Natural protection against rabies found
A study in a remote community in the Peruvian Amazon has given scientists new light on rabies disease. Results showed that regular exposure to vampire bats is the key to natural resistance in humans.
Ten per cent of people tested showed a resistance to the rabies disease, without any prior medical intervention. Before now, it has always been presumed that rabies infections give a 100 per cent fatality rate.
The study suggests those who have been regularly exposed to the disease have built up a natural form of immunity to rabies. Results would be expected to differ depending upon location - those communities with exposure to vampire bats being more resistant than those without exposure.
These findings of the U.S. Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) were published yesterday in the American Journal of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene.
'This means there may be ways to develop effective treatments that can save lives in areas where rabies remains a persistent cause of death,' said Amy Gilbert, member of the CDC and lead author of the journal.
Defra has published guidance for the vet sector ahead of a proposed UK-EU Sanitary and Phytosanitary agreement.
