Human Rabies Encephalomyelitis——A Report of 8 Autopsy Cases / 第三军医大学学报

ABSTRACT

Eight cases of human rabies encephalomyelitis confirmed by autopsy were reported. They all had a history of rabid dog bite and typical clinical manifestations of rabies. The mean clinical course ran about 4 days. The most frequent pathological findings were the appearence of intracytoplasmic Negri bodies in neuron and paren-chymal inflammation of the brain and spinal cord. The inflammatory response was more prominent in the brainstem, hippocampus and spinal cord, consisting of peri-vascular cuffs of lymphocytes and monocytes, foci of softening microglial response and neuronophagia. Negri bodies were found in all of the sections taken from the brain, especially frequently found in the purkinjs cells of the cerebsll um and the pyramidal cells of the hippocampi in all the eight cases.The pathodiagnostic principles of this disease, and its differentiation from type B encephalitis and polimyelitis were briefly discussed. The relation between the site of the dog bite and the distribution of the lesions and the duration of the incubation period were also discussed.