It is not often that a man can be said to love a disease, but Dr. Arthur King’s love of rabies was one such passion. The subtitle of this monumental work says it directly: “A Testament to Rabies by Dr. AA King.” Arthur began as a lab technician at the Weybridge, UK rabies lab and rose to become a pre-eminent world authority on rabies. He used his years of experience to begin this labour of love, and together with his co-editors, brought the expertise from many countries together in this 1 volume. After his untimely death in 2002, Arthur’s colleagues extended these coordinating efforts bringing the total to 66 authors from 55 countries.
Historically, rabies in many of these countries was not reported in the English world literature, and several authors have brought this early history into their accounts. Some countries have undergone name changes over the centuries, and for these reasons, all names are noted here, particularly for those readers with a personal interest: Albania, Algeria, Austria, Belarus, Belgium, Bosnia, Bulgaria, Croatia, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Denmark, Egypt, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Herzegovina, Hungary, Iceland, Ireland, Israel, Italy, Jordan, Latvia, Lebanon, Libya, Lichtenstein, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Macedonia, Malta, Moldova, Morocco, Netherlands, Norway, Palestine, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Russia, Slovak Republic, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Syria, Tunisia, Turkey, Ukraine, United Kingdom, and Yugoslavia.
This volume of 384 pages encompasses 25 Chapters with 1295 references ranging in time from 460BC to 2004AD. In itself, this book is a march through the history of rabies beginning in ancient Egypt, Greece, and Mesopotamia; through folklore diagnostics and cures such as an early human vaccine, the saliva of a rabid dog neutralized by the GI juices of a frog; through the era of Pasteur, and now to genetic recombinant constructs with various other viruses. It is all here, and in a tempero-geo-political context.
The traditional dog-rabies-human triad is apparent throughout the book. Data are provided for the existence of this relationship from ancient times to the present, and in the spread from continent to continent during the expansion of world trade and colonization. As well, there is recent work on the roll of wild vectors including red fox, arctic fox, wolf, jackal, raccoon dog, marten, badger, polecat, and several bat species, along with the related phylogenetics of rabies variants and other lyssaviruses found in these species.
This background of historic, genetic, epidemiological, and ecological presentations is culminated in the final chapters dealing with epi-modelling and control methods: human and domestic animal vaccination, and mass oral vaccination of wildlife over much of western Europe. The book concludes with a discussion of the need for world expansion of modern rabies control methods and biologicals through agencies such as the World Organization for Animal Health (OIE) and the World Health Organization (WHO).
Drs. Fooks, Aubert, and Wandeler, are to be commended for their efforts in completing this comprehensive volume; and as well, the OIE and the WHO Rabies Centre at Weybridge, UK for their support in bringing this work to press.
Whether you are a beginning student learning the mysteries of this phantom virus, or a scholar of ancient and modern medicine; or are interested in viral diagnostics, genetics, control or epi-modelling, you will find this a fascinating collection for your personal or institute library.