Scientists develop potential late-stage rabies treatment

“There is an urgent need in many parts of the world for a better rabies treatment,” said pathology professor Zhen Fu. A person bit by a rabid animal has only a finite amount of time to get treated with the proper vaccine before it is too late. Allow a rabid bite to fester long enough for the virus to reach the brain and for neurological symptoms to set in, and the infection is usually fatal. But a new vaccine, developed by scientists at the University of Georgia, promises to extend that window of opportunity, enabling the successful treatment of a rabies infection well past the traditional cutoff point. That cutoff point for successful rabies treatment varies depending on the location of the bite and animal involved. For humans, the window of opportunity for successful treatment can run anywhere from six days to a month or more. But for the mice used in this study,...