Public Health Issues
The Facts: Pandemic Influenza
A pandemic is an epidemic that spreads rapidly around the world with high rates of illness and death. Although people are exposed to different strains of the flu virus every year, history has shown that several times each century entirely new flu strains develop. Because no one has had a chance to develop immunity to the new flu strain, it can spread rapidly and widely. If the changed virus causes serious illness and easily spreads from person to person, a pandemic can occur.
Currently there is concern about one strain of Avian influenza (bird flu), known as H5N1, because it is causing severe disease in wild birds, chickens, and other poultry in several continents. In some instances, people who have had close contact with sick poultry have also become infected, some have died. There is concern if H5N1 is able to change so that it will be easily spread from birds to humans and then from human to human.
New York State, the state's local health departments and the federal government are actively involved in planning for the possibility of an influenza pandemic.
The Facts: Rabies
What is rabies?
Rabies is an illness that affects the central nervous system. It is transmitted to people from infected mammals. Rabies can be prevented by avoiding exposure to infected animals. Rabies is preventable through a series of vaccinations after exposure, but it is fatal once symptoms appear. Rabies is caused by the rabies virus.
Where is rabies found?
Rabies is found in all U.S. states except Hawaii. It is also found in Canada, Mexico, and many other countries around the world. The rabies virus is passed in the saliva of infected mammals.
How do people get rabies?
People get rabies from infected mammals. Rabies is transmitted most often through animal bites, although other contact with the saliva or brain tissue of an infected animal can cause the disease. Evidence suggests that rabies can also be spread by a seemingly insignificant bite from a bat with rabies, even without an obvious wound.
What are the signs and symptoms of rabies?
The rabies virus travels through the nervous system, eventually inflaming the brain. Early symptoms include irritability, headache, fever, and sometimes itching or pain at the site of the bite. The disease eventually progresses to paralysis, spasms of the throat muscles, convulsions, and delirium. Without preventive treatment, it is fatal.
How soon after exposure do symptoms appear?
The time between exposure and symptoms is usually 2 to 12 weeks, but it can be much less or much longer.
Who is at risk for rabies?
All mammals, including humans, can get rabies.
What is the treatment for rabies?
A series of vaccinations after exposure can prevent the disease. Once symptoms appear, there is no treatment.
How common is rabies?
In the United States, rabies in humans is rare because most pets are vaccinated against the disease. Only 36 cases have been reported since 1980, 21 of them linked to bats. Each year, about 40,000 people receive treatment for bites from potentially infected animals to prevent rabies.
Rabies Resources
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