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Although the incidence of rabies in man and domestic animals has dropped dramatically in the United States during the last 30 years, the mere presence of this invariably fatal zoonotic disease continues to pose a major problem to both the medical and veterinary professions. This article examines the current epidemiology of the disease in the United States, illustrating the major sources of infection in man and domestic pets. A review of the management of suspect rabies cases under circumstances commonly encountered in veterinary practice is given, and the current recommendations for pre- and post-exposure immunization of human beings are discussed.

Structured investigation of disease outbreaks or deviations from desired productivity levels do not always lead to definitive answers upon which intervention programs can be based. There is an important role for well-designed supportive epidemiologic studies to supplement outbreak investigations, and the circumstances of their use are described in this article. The design of cross-sectional, case-control, and cohort studies is also discussed, and procedures for data analysis are provided.

Relates the journey of a soldier of the U.S. Embassy in Kabul. Relevance of the journey; Description of the place travelled; Revelation of the challenging events.

Two areas of the United States presently are experiencing epizootics of raccoon rabies, which have been followed by the development of an enzootic state. These include four southeastern and five mid-Atlantic states. Information was obtained from 1,610 raccoons submitted for rabies testing in four of the affected mid-Atlantic states during 1982 and 1983 and from 798 raccoons from Virginia during 1984 and 1985. Analysis of the two sets of data provided an opportunity to characterize certain aspects of the epizootic. Raccoons collected during the day or at dusk and those that behaved abnormally were more likely to be rabid. Many human exposures to raccoons were preventable or may not have necessitated treatment. Eight (3%) of 291 serum samples from raccoons in an epizootic area had titers of antibody to rabies virus (complete neutralization) of 1:25. Field trials of baiting systems incorporating an oral raccoon rabies vaccine are being conducted in Virginia, Washington, D.C., and Pennsylvania.