Russian Woman Dies of Rabies in Chelyabinsk Region

A 45-year-old Russian woman has died of rabies in the Chelyabinsk Region in the southern Urals, a spokeswoman for the watchdog overseeing consumer rights and welfare said on Tuesday.

“The Yemanzhelinsk city resident was bitten by a fox that entered her yard in November 2007. She did not immediately seek medical help. On February 6, she went to hospital complaining of a high temperature and a shortness of breath,” a spokeswoman for Rospotrebnadzor said.

Rabies was confirmed after the woman’s death.

“The last rabies case was registered in the Chelyabinsk Region in 2006,” the spokeswoman added.

Rabies is transmitted to humans by the bite of an infected animal, and is usually fatal if no vaccine is administered after the bite.

The virus travels to the central nervous system and causes agitation, depression, hydrophobia, hallucinations, paralysis and, finally, death.

There is only one known case of survival when a patient received no specific anti-rabies treatment. In 2005 fifteen-year-old Jeanna Giese survived after the induction of a coma which helped her immune system defeat the disease. Later attempts to treat other patients this way failed.

Source RIA Novosti

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