Rabies History
14th November 2008 by Symptoms of Rabies No CommentsHISTORY ABOUT RABIES
HISTORY reveals that rabies is the oldest known communicable disease of man. In fact, the very first documented record of rabies was found in the Codex of Eshmuna during 3000 B.C. It was written in the Codex that the owner of a dog manifesting rabies-like symptoms are required to take all the preventive safety measures against dog bites. It was also stated that if a person will be bitten by a dog infected with rabies and dies, the owner of the rabid dog will be heavily penalized.
But HISTORY shows that rabies was first recognized as early as the 23rd century B.C. The word rabies originally came from the Sanskrit word “rahbas” which means “to do violence”.
Ancient Greek culture and HISTORY has two Gods of rabies. The first was Aristaeus – the Greek God who counteracted the effects of rabies while the second was Artemis – the Greek God recognized as the healer of rabies. In addition, historians have found references of rabies in some of the writings of Aristotle and Democritus. And during the 1st century A.D., the first description of rabies in humans was made by Aulus Cornelius Celsus.
In the Americas, the first recorded case of rabies occurred somewhere in Mexico during the year 1709 while the first rabies epidemic happened during the years 1770 to 1771 in North America. HISTORY also shows that the first attempt of isolating the rabies virus was made by Dr. Louis Pasteur in 1895. But the successful isolation of the virus didn’t come until 1960. Dr. Pasteur was also known for his contribution of producing the the first vaccine for rabies with the use of ultraviolet radiation.
