RABIES

Rabies, from the Latin word "rabies" meaning "madness", is a viral disease transferred from animal to animal through saliva and blood. The virus has such brutal and specific neurological effects that it has been marked throughout history, with its first mention over 3,000 years ago.

The virus typically enters the body through a skin puncture and wends its way to the central nervous system where it rapidly causes the brain to swell. Depending on the location of viral entry the pathogen can take months or even years to reach the CNS.

The virus travels through the blood brain barrier where it is protected from the body's disease fighting cells. This relative safety allows it to mass produce itself for concentrated release in the host's saliva and tears. In fact, one of the main symptoms of rabies infection is a marked increase in saliva and tear production as the virus hijacks the saliva and tear ducts to ready itself for the leap to another victim.

The dementia and mood swings caused by the illness are spectacular. Victims often become aggressive and violent as the virus attacks their brains. A combination of saliva production and other neurological changes cause the tell-tale symptom of hydrophobia, in which patients become terrified or aggressive when presented with water, and even though they are dying of thirst, cannot bring themselves to drink. It is the combination of this lack of hydration and over-production of saliva which causes the disease's trademark "foaming at the mouth."

Death from respiratory arrest occurs between 2-10 days after the first "flu-like" symptoms appear.

Once the virus has begun causing physical symptoms in the victim there is no standard treatment protocol, and the patient is expected to die. There have only been 6 reported cases in medical history of survival once Rabies had become symptomatic. One of these survivors, Jeanna Giese, was a WI teenager, who was spared from death in 2005 when doctors induced a coma in tandem with pharmaceutical intervention. This treatment has been replicated in subsequent cases without success.

Prophylactic Vaccination, however, has an almost 100% success rate at preventing the onset of symptoms. If a victim recognizes that they may have come in contact with the virus and seeks medical help before the virus has reached the CNS, it is extremely unlikely that they will ever get the full-blown disease.

This sick can be easily thwarted if caught early, but is truly one of the most horrific diseases if allowed to progress to its symptomatic stage. So, I give this sick a:
6 on my "lethality scale" (1-10)
and a 6 on my "disturbing scale" (1-10)

INFLUENZA

Contrary to colloquial usage, the term "Influenza" or "The Flu" does not refer to every illness resulting in coughing, sneezing, vomiting or fever. Rather, "Flu" is an illness caused by a very specific family of RNA viruses called Orthomyxoviridae, which mutate on a, typically, yearly cycle to frustrate our bodies attempts at immunity. It is the ubiquity and prevalence of Influenza in all cultures and demographics that has caused us to generalize many unrelated illnesses under the heading of "Flu."

Influenza kill hundreds of thousands of people each year, typically the very old and the very young, as it makes it's annual sweep across the globe. In an average year, 200,000 Americans are hospitalized because of Influenza.

Every year, the flu virus returns to its animal reservoirs (primarily pigs and birds) and undergoes various mutations. These mutations generate a unique yearly Influenza strain. Strains vary in lethality, contagion and severity from year to year. Scientists are constantly monitoring emerging strains in an effort to develop each year's vaccine. However, they are never 100% certain which strain will emerge.

When a person receives their yealry Flu shot, they are taking a gamble. It is possible that the devised vaccine will prevent the strain of Flu that comes around, but it is also possible that a different strain of Flu will unexpectedly emerge which is not affected by the vaccine leaving people unknowingly unprotected from infection.

The major symptomatic differences between cold and flu are as follows:

Flu vs. Colds: A Guide to Symptoms
Questions	Flu	Cold
Was your onset of illness …	sudden?	slow?
Do you have a …	high fever?	no (or mild) fever?
Is your exhaustion level …	severe?	mild?
Is your head …	achy?	headache-free?
Is your appetite …	decreased?	normal?
Are your muscles …	achy?	fine?
Do you have …	chills?	no chills?

Influenza is so common that we often forget about the huge toll it takes each year in human life and health care resources. It has historically proven to be one of the worst scourges of human kind. With that in mind I rate this sick

a 2 on my "lethality scale" (1-10)
and a 2 on my "disturbing scale" (1-10)