Rabies: infectious and neurological aspects

The epidemiological situation of rabies in the world remains very difficult. The problem of rabies does not lose its relevance due to the severity of the course and the lethality of the consequences. Rabies is a zoonosis, that is, an infection transmitted from diseased animals (both wild and domestic) to humans, accompanied by the development of encephalitis. The breadth of the range of susceptible species, which includes all warm-blooded vertebrates and birds, requires the attention of both veterinarians and infectious disease specialists. The main route of human infection is through bites or contamination of damaged skin with the saliva of infected animals. The classic variant of the disease includes successive stages of prodromal development, arousal and paralytic phase. Diseases caused by new, previously unknown lissaviruses carried by bats are becoming increasingly important. Modern immunotherapeutic methods of infection control are focused on the early, asymptomatic stage of the disease and are aimed at peripheral neutralization of the virus to prevent infection of the central nervous system and further development of pathology. In this work, the authors systematize modern data on the epidemiology, prevalence, pathogenesis, clinical features and approaches to the diagnosis and therapy of rabies.