Rabies
History

Rabies has been known since around 2000 BC. The first written record of rabies is in the Mesopotamian Codex of Eshnunna (c. 1930 BC), which dictates that the owner of a dog showing symptoms of rabies should take preventive measures against bites. If another person were bitten by a rabid dog and later died, the owner was heavily fined.

In Ancient Greece, rabies was supposed to be caused by Lyssa, the spirit of mad rage.

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 recommended a preparation made from the skull of a hanged man.

Rabies appears to have originated in the Old World, the first epizootic in the New World occurring in Boston in 1768.

Rabies was considered a scourge for its prevalence in the 19th century. In France and Belgium, where 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.

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.

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. Louis Pasteur's 1885 nerve tissue vaccine was successful, and was progressively improved to reduce often severe side-effects.

In modern times, the fear of rabies has not diminished, and the disease and its symptoms, particularly agitation, have served as an 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.
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