Zach Jones Memorial Fund strives to enhance awareness of the virus

If you’re of a certain age – say, over 50 – you’ll remember the “rabies talk” you got from your mom. “Don’t pet dogs you don’t know” or “Stay away from squirrels.” The danger, she told you, was rabies. “Watch for dogs that are foaming at the mouth,” she might have said. And if your eyes glazed over, she’d offer this one: “Rabies shots are the worst thing you can imagine, and you have to get a lot of them if you get bit.”

These days, not so many kids are getting the rabies talk. That’s because rabies – particularly canine rabies – is rare in this country (though not in others). But your mother knew best. In fact, rabies is still a danger, killing 100 percent of its victims who fail to receive prompt post-exposure treatment. (And there are many reasons people fail to do so, usually because they’re unaware they’ve been exposed to the virus.)

For the past three years, Larry and Connie Jones of Humble, Texas, have been talking to as many people as they can about the dangers of rabies. And they have a very personal reason to do so. On May 12, 2006, their 16-year-old son, Zach, died of rabies about six weeks after being bitten by a bat that had found its way into his bedroom. Like many in that situation, Zach and his parents weren’t aware that he had been bitten – or had been exposed to the bat’s saliva – in his sleep. (Bat bites are so tiny that victims are often unaware that they have been bitten, particularly if the event occurred during sleep.) By the time he became aware that something was wrong, it was too late to save him.

What is rabies?
Rabies is a virus that causes acute encephalitis in all warm-blooded hosts, including humans. Although all species of mammals are susceptible to infection, only a few are important as reservoirs, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). In the United States, those reservoirs are raccoons, skunks, foxes, coyotes and bats. Transmission of the virus usually begins when infected saliva of a host is passed to an uninfected animal. The most common mode of transmission is through the bite and virus-containing saliva of an infected host.

After the bite, the virus enters a so-called “eclipse phase,” lasting several days or months, during which it cannot be easily detected, according to the CDC. If exposure is suspected or confirmed, the victim should receive human rabies immune globulin and vaccine. (See the CDC Web site for information on post-exposure prophylaxis.) Once clinical signs appear, however, the disease is nearly always fatal, usually within two to 10 days.

After uptake into the peripheral nerves, the virus is transported to the central nervous system. Dissemination of the virus within the central nervous system is rapid, and quickly leads to the classic behavioral changes associated with rabies. The first symptoms may be nonspecific flu-like signs, such as malaise, fever, headache. Within days, symptoms of cerebral dysfunction, anxiety, confusion and agitation appear. This progresses to delirium, abnormal behavior, hallucinations and insomnia. Victims often develop a fear of water, called hydrophobia, due to the difficulty they experience swallowing.

Rabies is rare in humans in the United States primarily because of effective animal control and canine vaccination programs. However, the persistence of the disease in wildlife reflects its public health relevance, according to the CDC. From 2003 to 2007, for example, an average of 6,927 animal cases were identified annually in the United States and Puerto Rico, with wildlife bearing approximately 90 percent of the disease burden. And although rabid bats constitute less than 25 percent of these cases, nearly all indigenous human rabies cases reported in the United States have been linked to bats in recent decades.

Zach Jones Memorial Fund
After Zach passed away, his parents wanted to do something to commemorate their son, who was an intelligent, athletic and well-liked high-school kid. So they created the Zach Jones Memorial Scholarship Fund, to help local graduating high-schoolers receive full-time, post-high-school education. Those students must have demonstrated strong academic achievement, depth of character, leadership, seriousness of purpose and service orientation.

Another mission of the Zach Jones Memorial Fund is to raise funds to assist with educational awareness, early detection, and ultimately, the cure for rabies.

Thanks in part to the efforts of Debbie Dorsey, an independent filmmaker who became aware of Zach’s story through a relative, the Zach Jones Memorial Fund has launched a Web site geared to young people called Rabies Aware (www.rabiesaware.org). The site explains in simple terms what rabies is, how to avoid it, and other sites to visit to learn more. In addition, Dorsey – who is the director of the Rabies Aware project – created a Rabies Aware channel on YouTube (http://www.YouTube.com/RabiesAware).

The Zach Jones Memorial Fund accepts donations, and also raises money through its “Z” Gala event and “Z” Golf Tournament. For more information, go to www.zachjonesmemorial.org.