Death will be the physician that cures: the treatment of rabies in the XIX Century

Introduction Despite advances on antivirals and supportive therapy, treating rabies today is as challenging and hopeless today as it was in the XIX century. This disease causes 59,00 human deaths yearly and is 100% lethal, causing extensive suffering for the patients and their families. Methodology This article describes the approaches used by XIX physicians in order to treat the wounds of patients exposed to rabies and to treat patients already with rabies, based on a fictitious case inspired on accounts of the time. Results and Conclusion The efficacy of these approaches is discussed on the light of current knowledge on Biology and Pharmacology.