Human Rabies and Rabies Vaccine Encephalomyelitis

Soon after the Pasteur prophylactic treatment for rabies had come into general use, scattered reports were made describing paralyses of myelitic or neuritic type occurring during the treatment. Since a paralytic form of human rabies was known to exist, it was suspected that the postvaccinal paralyses were due to an atypical or modified type of rabies. However, cases were soon observed in which paralysis occurred during treatment, when it was proved either that the patient had not been bitten or that the attacking dog did not have rabies. A lively discussion arose, among the French especially, as to whether the paralysis was due to a rabbit "virus fixé" or to toxic material from the parts of the central nervous system used in the preparation of the vaccine emulsions. In 1905, Remlinger1collected reports of 40 cases of paralysis among 107,712 persons treated, and in 1927 reported 529 cases among