Word: serums
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...wolf's 29 victims were trucked into Teheran (the two others straggled in days later). They were promptly bled, so that any antibodies against rabies could be detected, and divided into five groups. Of the 18 bitten on the head, five got two shots of serum, four days apart, plus vaccine, six got one shot of serum plus vaccine, and five got vaccine alone. Of those bitten less severely elsewhere on the body, four got serum (one shot) plus vaccine, and six got vaccine only...
...gets a chance to develop, rabies is invariably fatal. Ever since the days of Louis Pasteur (1822-1895), doctors have been able to head off rabies with a series of 14 to 21 vaccinations, but the treatment is costly, painful-and sometimes fatal. A "hyper-immune serum." developed about ten years after Pasteur's vaccine from the blood of animals infected with rabies, was known to give passive, temporary immunity but there had never been a major test in humans. The WHO team, aware that rabid wolves are common in Iran, was ready to apply the searching test...
...wolf's massive jaws had chomped right through his skull, and the teeth, piercing the dura mater (parchment-like covering) had dripped rabies virus directly into the brain. Golam already had contracted meningitis through the head wounds. He got penicillin as well as a special course of serum every two days, plus vaccine...
Textbook Neatness. Of the five with head wounds who got only vaccine, three died. Of the 13 who got serum as well, only one died (and he had but a single shot of serum). Among the 25 who today are alive and healthy is Golam Khazayi. No other human being has survived so intimate a brush with rabies...
First, a drop of the specimen fluid is smeared on a microscope slide. Then it is covered with a drop of serum (from an animal) containing the antibody which develops when the suspected species of bacteria is present. This serum is tagged with fluorescein, a luminous substance. If the right antibody hits the right germ, the germ starts to glow under the microscope. If the tester has guessed wrong, no glow, and he tries again with other antibodies...