Does rabies affect the blood-brain barrier?

Does rabies affect the blood-brain barrier?

Rabies is a deadly viral disease with an extremely high fatality rate in humans. Previously, it was suggested that an enhancement of the blood–brain barrier (BBB) permeability, which allows immune cells and/or antibodies to enter the central nervous system (CNS) tissue, is critical to clear the infection.

How does the rabies virus hide from the immune system?

Rabies virus uses a myriad of strategies to avoid the immune system and hide from antiviral drugs, even using the blood brain barrier to protect itself once it has entered the brain. The blood brain barrier is a membrane that prevents cells and large molecules from entering the brain.

What is blocked by the blood-brain barrier?

The blood-brain barrier helps block harmful substances, such as toxins and bacteria from entering the brain. But, scientists knew that the brain also depends upon the delivery of hormones and key nutrients, including glucose and several amino acids, from other organs of the body.

What is the immune response to rabies?

The rabies virus is good at ‘hiding’ from the immune system. As a result, no immune response really develops, so the body finds it hard to combat.

Where does rabies virus hide?

In contrast to alpha herpesvirus infections, the team found that interferons had no effect on rabies virus transport, perhaps because, until it reaches the neuronal cell body, the rabies virus hides out inside cellular structures called endosomes.

Why is the blood-brain barrier important?

The purpose of the blood–brain barrier is to protect against circulating toxins or pathogens that could cause brain infections, while at the same time allowing vital nutrients to reach the brain.

What happens when rabies reaches the brain?

Rabies virus travels through the nerves to the spinal cord and brain. This process can last approximately 3 to 12 weeks. The animal has no signs of illness during this time. When it reaches the brain, the virus multiplies rapidly and passes to the salivary glands.

Are humans immune to rabies?

The researchers hypothesized that some people developed immunity by receiving tiny amounts of the rabies virus from bat bites, never becoming so severely infected that their central nervous systems were affected.

How does rabies virus reach the brain?

Rabies virus (RABV) is a pathogen well-adapted to the nervous system, where it infects neurons. RABV is transmitted by the bite of an infected animal. It enters the nervous system via a motor neuron through the neuromuscular junction, or via a sensory nerve through nerve spindles.

Is it true that rabies virus can enter only the brain cells?

The virus is transmitted in the saliva of an infected animal. From the point of entry (usually a bite), the rabies virus travels along nerves to the spinal cord and then to the brain, where it multiplies. From there, it travels along other nerves to the salivary glands and into the saliva.