Submitted via IRC for chromas
Scientists develop novel vaccine for Lassa fever and rabies
[...] There are currently no approved Lassa fever vaccines. Although Lassa fever is often a mild illness, some people experience serious symptoms, such as hemorrhage (severe bleeding) and shock. The overall Lassa virus infection case-fatality rate is about 1 percent, according to the World Health Organization (WHO), but that rate rises to 15 percent for patients hospitalized with severe cases of Lassa fever. People contract Lassa virus through contact with infected Mastomys rats and through exposure to an infected person's bodily fluids. Lassa fever is endemic to West Africa where these rats are common. In 2018, Nigeria experienced its largest-ever Lassa fever outbreak, with 514 confirmed cases and 134 deaths from Jan. 1 through Sept. 30, according to the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control.
Africa is also at high risk for human rabies. The WHO estimates that 95 percent of the estimated 59,000 human rabies deaths per year occur in Africa and Asia. Nearly all human rabies deaths are caused by bites or scratches from infected dogs. Effective rabies vaccines and post-exposure shots are available, but many deaths still occur in resource-limited countries, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
(Score: 3, Interesting) by Runaway1956 on Sunday October 14 2018, @09:27PM (8 children)
I've never witnessed a human with rabies. But, as I understand things, it's one of the most horrible ways to die. Maybe worse than being eaten up with cancer, and maybe worse than one of those hemorrhagic fevers. Nasssty. If there is a vaccine that works, I can't understand why we - the world at large, not just the US - aren't doing everything possible to get it into the hands that can put it to good use.
Charities come and charities go, and many of them are scams. But, I'd donate to a credible organization working toward preventing rabies.
(Score: -1, Troll) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday October 14 2018, @10:43PM (2 children)
Yeah, if only they could develop a similar vaccine for leftism. [sciencedirect.com]
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday October 14 2018, @11:22PM (1 child)
Ignorance is bliss. That's why they're happy.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday October 15 2018, @12:00AM
Hello NPC! [wehuntedthemammoth.com]
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday October 15 2018, @03:20AM
There's already a functional rabies vaccine. It was one of the first. IIRC Pasteur developed one.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday October 15 2018, @04:05AM (2 children)
Most of the world operates on less money a day than a soft drink in the western world and most people are worried about making it to the end of the day with immediate real concerns, not some hypothetical potential problem. Unless you've lived it, you can't fully understand it, so don't feel bad.
That's why
(Score: 4, Insightful) by Runaway1956 on Monday October 15 2018, @05:27AM
It's not the poor guy, living out in the bush, or a ghetto, that I fail to understand. He cannot spend money that he does not have. It's his government, and the governments of the world, that I fail to understand. Those people who are responsible for the health and welfare of the people of the their countries, and/or the world.
(Score: 3, Interesting) by GreatAuntAnesthesia on Monday October 15 2018, @12:01PM
Maybe if those poor communities didn't have rabies to worry about, then they wouldn't be quite so poor. Illnesses like rabies aren't just bad for the person who catches it and their families, they impact the entire local economy. Eradicate rabies, and you make it a little easier for poor people to escape poverty. Eliminating malaria would be an even bigger help.
This means that wiping out these diseases can be justified on economic, not just humanitarian grounds - if you can raise the poor out of poverty, then you open up vast new markets of consumers for international trade.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday October 17 2018, @04:33PM
Germany / etc. drop oral vaccine baits that target their wild animal reservoir species to vaccinate / protect wild animals such as foxes from becoming infected.
The US should do this ...
(Score: 5, Informative) by RandomFactor on Monday October 15 2018, @01:56AM
trick forcing us to RTFA in order to find out what the novel treatment is.
.
Out of protest for this inhumane and unfair treatment I hereby paste in the relevent bits from the article so no one else must attempt this unusual act.
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