A case report on indirect transmission of human rabies

At present, virus infection is still a common threat to public health in developing countries. Human rabies remains a matter of great global concern with a case-fatality of almost 100%. The rabies virus belongs to the neurotropic type of virus of the Lyssavirus genus, and the disease presents as a deteriorating encephalomyelitis and is endemic throughout much of the world, particularly in Africa and Asia. Previous data have shown that, globally, approximately 59 000 human deaths are caused by rabies per year. Fortunately, human rabies can be treated through the timely administration of post-exposure prophylaxis (PEP). These days immunization using the rabies vaccine has become standard practice for individuals who have suffered bites or scratches from an animal, or who have been exposed to the body fluids of an infected animal. However, we have recently encountered a case of human rabies which arose through a rare transmission method, and we believe that lessons can and should be learnt from this incident.