Editing Rabies (section)

==History==
[[File:Cantigas de Santa Maria-275-5.jpg|thumb|Miniature of the [[Cantigas de Santa Maria|''Cantiga'']] #275 depicting two [[Knights Hospitaller|monks hospitaller]] with rabies being carried before St. Mary of Terena.<ref>{{Cite book|pages=172–173|year=2002|title=La asistencia a los enfermos en Castilla en la Baja Edad Media|first=Magdalena|last=Santo Tomás Pérez|isbn=84-688-3906-X|url=http://www.cervantesvirtual.com/descargaPdf/la-asistencia-a-los-enfermos-en-castilla-en-la-baja-edad-media--0/|publisher=[[University of Valladolid|Universidad de Valladolid]]|via=[[Biblioteca Virtual Miguel de Cervantes]]}}</ref>]]
[[File:Middle Ages rabid dog.jpg|thumb|A [[woodcut]] from the [[Middle Ages]] showing a rabid dog]]

[[File:Sauvages de la Croix, François Boissier de – Dissertation sur la nature et la cause de la Rage, 1777 – BEIC 3001126.jpg|thumb|[[François Boissier de Sauvages de Lacroix]], ''Della natura e causa della rabbia'' (''Dissertation sur la nature et la cause de la Rage''), 1777]]

Rabies has been known since around 2000 BC.<ref>{{cite journal | vauthors = Adamson PB | title = The spread of rabies into Europe and the probable origin of this disease in antiquity | journal = Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society of Great Britain & Ireland. Royal Asiatic Society of Great Britain and Ireland | volume = 109 | issue = 2 | pages = 140–4 | year = 1977 | pmid = 11632333 | doi = 10.1017/S0035869X00133829 | jstor = 25210880 }}</ref> The first written record of rabies is in the Mesopotamian [[Laws of Eshnunna|Codex of Eshnunna]] (circa 1930 BC), which dictates that the owner of a dog showing symptoms of rabies should take preventive measure against bites. If another person were<!--subjunctive--> bitten by a rabid dog and later died, the owner was heavily fined.<ref>{{cite book | last1 = Dunlop | first1 = Robert H | last2 = Williams | first2 = David J | name-list-style = vanc  | title = Veterinary Medicine: An Illustrated History | publisher = Mosby | year= 1996 | isbn=978-0-8016-3209-9 }}</ref>

In Ancient Greece, rabies was supposed to be caused by [[Lyssa]], the spirit of mad rage.<ref>{{Cite web|title=Rabies: an ancient disease|url=https://www.gob.mx/salud/articulos/56248}}</ref>

Ineffective folk remedies abounded in the medical literature of the ancient world. The physician [[Scribonius Largus]] prescribed a poultice of cloth and hyena skin; [[Antaeus (physician)|Antaeus]] recommended a preparation made from the skull of a hanged man.<ref>{{cite book|last1=Barrett |first1=Alan D.T. |last2=Stanberry |first2=Lawrence R. | name-list-style = vanc |title=Vaccines for Biodefense and Emerging and Neglected Diseases |publisher=[[Academic Press]] |date=2009 |page=612 |language=en |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=6Nu058ZNa1MC |isbn=9780080919027 |access-date=2016-01-08 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160428020308/https://books.google.com/books?id=6Nu058ZNa1MC |archive-date=28 April 2016 }}</ref>

Rabies appears to have originated in the Old World, the first [[epizootic]] in the New World occurring in Boston in 1768.<ref>[https://books.google.com/books?hl=en&lr=&id=dw8qW6jcfWUC&oi=fnd&pg=PA1&dq=history+of+rabies&ots=CmyU5g3ZlE&sig=Vm4Mlc37hmzTzpYalg95Ft1Len0#v=onepage&q=history%20of%20rabies&f=false The Natural History of Rabies] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160302162818/https://books.google.com/books?hl=en&lr=&id=dw8qW6jcfWUC&oi=fnd&pg=PA1&dq=history+of+rabies&ots=CmyU5g3ZlE&sig=Vm4Mlc37hmzTzpYalg95Ft1Len0 |date=2 March 2016 }}<br />The first major epizootic in North America was reported in 1768, continuing until 1771 when foxes and dogs carried the disease to swine and domestic animals. The malady was so unusual that it was reported as a new disease</ref> It spread from there, over the next few years, to various other states, as well as to the French West Indies, eventually becoming common all across North America.{{cn|date=May 2021}}

Rabies was considered a scourge for its prevalence in the 19th century. In France and Belgium, where [[Hubertus|Saint Hubert]] was venerated, the "[[St Hubert's Key]]" was heated and applied to cauterize the wound. By an application of [[magical thinking]], dogs were branded with the key in hopes of protecting them from rabies. The fear of rabies was almost irrational, due to the number of vectors (mostly rabid dogs) and the absence of any efficacious treatment. It was not uncommon for a person bitten by a dog merely suspected of being rabid to commit suicide or to be killed by others.<ref name="Rotivel"/>

In ancient times the attachment of the tongue (the [[lingual frenulum]], a mucous membrane) was cut and removed as this was where rabies was thought to originate. This practice ceased with the discovery of the actual cause of rabies.<ref name="Baer1991">{{cite book|last=Baer|first=George | name-list-style = vanc |title=The Natural History of Rabies|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=dw8qW6jcfWUC&q=rabies+history&pg=PA1|publisher=CRC Press|access-date=31 October 2011|isbn=9780849367601|year=1991}}</ref> Louis Pasteur's 1885 nerve tissue vaccine was successful, and was progressively improved to reduce often severe side-effects.<ref name=Giesen2015/>

In modern times, the fear of rabies has not diminished, and the disease and its symptoms, particularly agitation, have served as an [[Rabies in popular culture|inspiration for several works]] of [[zombie]] or similarly themed fiction, often portraying rabies as having mutated into a stronger virus which fills humans with murderous rage or incurable illness, bringing about a devastating, widespread pandemic.<ref>{{cite web|last1=Than |first1=Ker | name-list-style = vanc |title="Zombie Virus" Possible via Rabies-Flu Hybrid? |url=http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2010/10/1001027-rabies-influenza-zombie-virus-science/ |website=National Geographic |publisher=National Geographic |access-date=13 September 2015 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150913232030/http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2010/10/1001027-rabies-influenza-zombie-virus-science/ |archive-date=13 September 2015 |date=27 October 2010 }}</ref>

===Etymology===
The term is derived from the [[Latin]] ''rabies'', "madness".<ref name="SimpsonDP1979">{{cite book | vauthors = Simpson DP | title = Cassell's Latin Dictionary | publisher = Cassell | year = 1979 | edition = 5 | location = London | page = 883 | isbn = 978-0-304-52257-6 }}</ref> This, in turn, may be related to the Sanskrit ''rabhas'', "to rage".<ref>{{cite journal | vauthors = Dalfardi B, Esnaashary MH, Yarmohammadi H | title = Rabies in medieval Persian literature - the Canon of Avicenna (980-1037&nbsp;AD) | journal = Infectious Diseases of Poverty | volume = 3 | issue = 1 | pages = 7 | date = February 2014 | pmid = 24533686 | pmc = 3933285 | doi = 10.1186/2049-9957-3-7 }}</ref> The Greeks derived the word ''lyssa'', from ''lud'' or "violent"; this root is used in the genus name of the rabies virus, ''Lyssavirus''.<ref name="Rotivel">{{cite web  |first=Yolande  |last=Rotivel | name-list-style = vanc  |title=Introduction  |url=https://fas.org/ahead/docs/rabies.htm  |publisher=Federation of American Scientists  |access-date=2009-04-25  |url-status=dead  |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090426031557/http://www.fas.org/ahead/docs/rabies.htm  |archive-date=26 April 2009  }}</ref>