Rabies is a vaccine-preventable, zoonotic, viral disease affecting the central nervous system. Once clinical symptoms appear, rabies is virtually 100% fatal, and treatment is typically supportive.

It causes tens of thousands of deaths every year, mainly in Asia and Africa. Currently, there is no validated treatment in humans that prevents death following symptomatic rabies, however my guest today and his colleagues at the Uniformed Services University (USU) have made a significant breakthrough which may have changed that.

Joining me today to discuss this rabies therapy is Brian Schaefer PhD, Dr Schaefer is a Professor in the Department of Microbiology and Immunology at the Uniformed Services University (USU) in Bethesda, MD.

He also holds secondary appointments as Professor in the following USU graduate (Ph.D.) programs: Emerging Infectious Diseases; Molecular and Cell Biology; and Neuroscience.

The study: mAb therapy controls CNS-resident lyssavirus infection via a CD4 T cell-dependent mechanism