RABIES
• The word 'rabies' comes from the Latin word meaning madness. Because the virus infects the spinal cord and brain of its victims, it causes raging insanity, followed by paralysis. Victims die of respiratory failure. • Globally, 90% of rabies cases start with the bite of a rabid dog. However, in the U.S., only 5% of rabies cases come from dogs because rabies vaccines are so widely available.
• Worldwide, an estimated 26,000 people died from rabies in 2010, down from 54,000 in 1990. The majority of the deaths occurred in Asia and Africa. India has the highest rate of human rabies, primarily because of stray dogs, whose number has greatly increased since a 2001 law forbade the killing of dogs. • Over the past 10 years, rabies has killed only a total of 28 people in the U.S.
Answer
• The Dalai Lama likes to repair watches as a way to relax. • Before modern medical techniques became common, it was not unusual for people to be inadvertently buried alive. In 1819, the Doctor Regent of the Faculty of Medicine in Paris estimated that one-third to one-half of people who died in bed were, in fact, still alive when they were interred. This led to the invention of the "security coffin," which was connected to a monitoring station by a long tube. If the presumed corpse did regain consciousness, food and drink could be transported through the tube while the coffin was exhumed. • In ancient China, snail shells were used as currency. *** Thought for the Day: "Good humor is a tonic for mind and body. It is the best antidote for anxiety and depression. It is a business asset. It attracts and keeps friends. It lightens human burdens. It is the direct route to serenity and contentment." -- Grenville Klieser
Weekly SUDOKU
• Though they seemingly have little in common, early 20thcentury American politician William Jennings Bryan and 19th-century French author Honore de Balzac seemed to share a distrust of great wealth. Bryan observed, "No one can earn a million dollars honestly," and Balzac, echoing that sentiment, stated, "Behind every great fortune there is a crime." • A single speck of blood contains around 5 million red blood cells. • You might be surprised to learn that ebooks are not a recent phenomenon; back in 1971 a man named Michael S. Hart began to digitize printed works, typing them in by hand. His first project -- The Declaration of Independence. • Woodrow Wilson is the only U.S. president who held a Ph.D. • With a height of 321 feet, the Memphis Pyramid, completed in 1991, is the largest pyramid in the Americas, and the sixthlargest in the world.
Answer
by Samantha Weaver
• Because the rabies virus is transmitted through saliva, the virus survives by making sure that the saliva is loaded with infection and that the animal is driven to bite whatever it comes in contact with. To ensure the saliva is thoroughly infected, the throat muscles are paralyzed, which prevents the animal from swallowing (which would dilute the virus). Attempts to drink water in spite of raging thirst cause painful spasms of the muscles in the throat and larynx. Infected animals therefore foam at the mouth because they cannot swallow, and they show a fear of water. This is why rabies has also been called "hydrophobia" meaning "fear of water."
King CROSSWORD
© 2015 King Features Synd., Inc.
• Rabies can’t go through unbroken skin. People can get rabies only via a bite from a rabid animal or through scratches, abrasions, or mucous membranes in contact with saliva or brain tissue from a rabid animal. The rabies virus is short-lived when exposed to open air. It can only survive in saliva and dies when the animal’s saliva dries up.