Abstract

In Indonesia, Rabies is still considered as the most common zoonotic disease. It is not due to the number of death cases but to the number of human cases of human bitten by rabies virus infected animals or suspected ones. Most of human rabies cases caused by dog bites, besides cat and monkey bites. If rabies can be eliminated from dogs, rabies in cats and monkeys can also be eliminated as spontaneous rabies in these two animals are rare. Rabies is caused by an RNA virus from Rhabdowidae Family and it attacks the central nervous system. It is almost invariably fatal if post-exposure prophylaxis is not administered prior to the onset of severe symptoms in unvaccinated people Diagnose is based on the history of close contacts to infected saliva (via bites or scratches) and development of signs and symptoms. The early stage symptoms are fever. malaise, followed by agitation, abnormal behaviours, anxiety, hallucination, progressing to delirium, hypersalivalion, hydrophobia, aerophobia, neurological symptoms such as pharynx spasm. paralysis, seizure, and finally death. Laboratory test to detect rabies virus in saliva can be done by a Reverse transcription followed by Polymerase Cham Reaction (RT/PCR) and virus isolation in cultured tissues. Skin biopsies of hair follicles at nape of the neck are exammed for rabies antigen in cutaneous nerves at the base of hair follicles by immunofluoresence staining. The treatment after exposure are cleansing lesion, administering intradermal anti-rabies immunization to accelerate immune response. anti-rabies serum to stop infection process, intravenous and intraventricular ribavirin and alfa interferon, high concentration of ketamine infusion to inhibit rabies virus replication. At last, vaccination is the best prevention. Key words: rabies, RNA-virus, vaccination, diagnosis, treatment.