Historical Context – TKAM The Scourge of Rabies and Infectious Diseases When Calpurnia sees the dog walking down the street lopsided (chapter 10) she immediately knows what is wrong with him – he has rabies Rabies seldom affects domestic animals today – most pets are vaccinated but in the 1930s people could not afford to pay for shots for their pets and rabies was a common occurrence. Any one who was bitten by a rabid animal would most likely die as they were probably not vaccinated or could afford to pay for vaccines

Fear existed in the population of RABIES If a person is bitten by a rabid animal – an incubation period would last several weeks, and then the person becomes depressed, anxious, irritable, and begins to have trouble breathing and swallowing Persons become extremely thirsty but cannot drink. Thick mucous collects in the throat and vomiting occurs. A fever rises while the person has seizures, paralysis, and eventually enters a coma. This may last 3-5 days until the person dies of encephalitis – an inflammation of the nerves in the brain.

The way in which rabies is spread was first recognized in the very early 1800s. In 1884, scientist Louis Pasteur developed a successful vaccine. Today, an anti-rabies serum is injected into a person who has been bitten by a rabid animal and followed by day course of daily painful vaccine injections. Booster shots are typically given every 10 to 20 years.

Infectious diseases were very common – as special antibiotics or vaccines were not discovered and inoculations to prevent people from catching infectious diseases were either not developed or mandatory for the population. Whole communities and families could be affected by the spread of infections diseases: Polio, cholera, small pox, scarlet fever, measles, chicken pox, bubonic plague, tuberculosis mumps,