Peruvian villagers residing in a vampire bat ridden part of
the Amazon appear to have developed a resistance to the rabies virus.
Individuals tested in two separate villages had the anti-rabies antibody present
in their blood suggesting exposure to the virus. It is apparent that the
individuals had been bitten, exposed to the virus, and survived without medical
intervention. Only one resident from either village reported ever receiving the
rabies vaccine.
Previous conventional wisdom would have us believe that
rabies is one of the most deadly diseases-killing 100% of its
victims. How are the Peruvian villagers escaping this same death sentence?
Vampire bats feed off mammalian blood at night in the Amazon region. In the
absence of adequate food sources they are known to feed off humans. It is being
hypothesized that their gentle bite “may
deliver a much lower dose of the virus” in comparison to other larger virus
carrying mammals.
The Center for Disease Control warns that this newly discovered
resistance does not suggest that medical intervention stops vaccinating against the virus after an
animal bite. It is estimated every year that 55,000 people die from
exposure to the rabies virus. The public needs to continue to be cautious of exposure to the deadly
virus. Further research is needed and is currently being conducted into the immunity that
the Peruvian villagers exhibit.
Angeline Latsch (3)
Wait, these bats eat humans? That's scary! If these bats deliver a much a loser dose of the virus, would humans still be likely to catch rabies from just one bite?
ReplyDelete- Kimberly Ty (3)
This is another example of human evolution in a particularly intense environment. Just like malaria resistance in sickle cell anemia patients the human population is constantly adapting to its surroundings through inhibiton, deleterious, and gain of function mutations in the genetic code.
ReplyDeleteCelina Keating (3)
I find it interesting how our DNA changes, and hearing about people having resistance to certain diseases or viruses seems pretty awesome.
ReplyDeleteCynthia Bui (1)
Its mind-blowing how far we as humans have evolved and are able to survive in such dangerous parts of the world because of natural selection.
ReplyDeleteGabrielle Wertheim (3)
I'm wondering how long and how many generation it did take for humans to develop this natural resistance to the rabies virus?
ReplyDeleteSetareh Sepasi (3)
This is pretty cool. The earliest vaccines were just less virulent forms of the disease that they were trying to cure. So, I guess it makes sense that smaller doses of the rabies virus would be easier for the body to fight and gain immunity to. Is that estimate for deaths worldwide or in the US? This would definitely be a nice alternative to the very painful rabies shot currently in use.
ReplyDeleteKaitlin Jones (3)
Kimberly, the vampire bat does not literally eat humans-in the absence of another mammal meal they may bite humans. Their hypothesis is their bite may deliver such a small dose of the virus that the humans body is able to build antibodies against the virus.
ReplyDeleteI thought this article was an excellent exhibit of human evolution. I think this would be a very interesting study to be a part of and to see how it may change the way medical intervention fights the rabies virus.
ReplyDeleteThis is a great article! I want to see more research done with this, mainly because rabies is such a high kill ratio virus, and it's interesting to see what it could be that helps these Peruvian people fend of the rabies virus. It's certainly not a big issue here in the U.S., but 3rd world countries with many stray animals and more potential for rabies to spread would be helpful to the endemic people living there.
ReplyDeleteResearchers have revealed that the particular rabies computer virus might take a woman coming from distressing sex signs or symptoms for you to demise in under a 7 days. Famous a lot more for your symptomatic nervous about drinking water (can be a sign that this virus provides disabled the ingesting muscles), rabies sometimes initial shows up as mysterious hyper sexuality, caused by herpes inflaming mental performance. Unfortunately, as soon as this kind of symptom turns up, the sickness will be terminal.
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