I am thinking about the two grizzly bears at our local zoo that had to be killed in the 90’s because one of them scratched a child who jumped into their caged area. They could then confirm that neither animal had rabies.
Why is there not a more novel way to test for rabies? And why can’t the human be tested for it?
In: 357
Once you as a human show the first symptoms of having rabies YOU ARE DEAD. There is 100% chance of dead and there is nothing that can be done at that point.
About detection from [WHO (World Health Organization)](https://www.who.int/news-room/fact-sheets/detail/rabies)
>Current diagnostic tools are not suitable for detecting rabies infection before the onset of clinical disease.
So you can have it and we can’t tell until it’s too late to do anything about it.
As for why we need to kill the animal? We need to check their brain for the virus.
Once you as a human show the first symptoms of having rabies YOU ARE DEAD. There is 100% chance of dead and there is nothing that can be done at that point.
About detection from [WHO (World Health Organization)](https://www.who.int/news-room/fact-sheets/detail/rabies)
>Current diagnostic tools are not suitable for detecting rabies infection before the onset of clinical disease.
So you can have it and we can’t tell until it’s too late to do anything about it.
As for why we need to kill the animal? We need to check their brain for the virus.
Because rabies principally infects the central nervous system, which means you need a portion of the central nervous system (i.e., brain tissue) to test. The standard is to sample from 2 different parts of the brain. It’s just not possible to do this and keep the animal alive.
Nowadays it’s become possible to test for rabies without killing the animal, but they haven’t been conclusively proven to be as reliable as directly testing brain tissue, and because rabies is essentially 100% fatal, the risk is too high to justify using a testing method that might not be certain.
Because rabies principally infects the central nervous system, which means you need a portion of the central nervous system (i.e., brain tissue) to test. The standard is to sample from 2 different parts of the brain. It’s just not possible to do this and keep the animal alive.
Nowadays it’s become possible to test for rabies without killing the animal, but they haven’t been conclusively proven to be as reliable as directly testing brain tissue, and because rabies is essentially 100% fatal, the risk is too high to justify using a testing method that might not be certain.
Because the best test for rabies in animals, is an antibody test that requires a large portion of the animals fresh brain, and multiple areas must be tested to rule out the disease (and assess the risk to human at risk).
Even the constellation of tests the use to try to determine if a human has the disease isn’t as accurate, and since Rabies is so lethal you’re not going to risk doing a test that could say the animal is negative when it isn’t.
Because the best test for rabies in animals, is an antibody test that requires a large portion of the animals fresh brain, and multiple areas must be tested to rule out the disease (and assess the risk to human at risk).
Even the constellation of tests the use to try to determine if a human has the disease isn’t as accurate, and since Rabies is so lethal you’re not going to risk doing a test that could say the animal is negative when it isn’t.
Latest Answers