Rabies-as in former times-is still today a major killer affecting man and animals especially in many tropical and sub-tropical countries of Asia, Africa and South America. Some 50,000 people and literally millions of animals suffer and die of this disease each year. This dramatic death toll and the enormous economic losses which ensue are nowadays un tolerable and no longer justified. Worldwide strategy for Rabies control has been established and the World Health Organization recently formulated an elimination programme for dog Rabies. Methods for wildlife Rabies control are also under way....

All multicellular organisms may possess innate immunity mediated by defense mechanisms with which the organism is born. In recent years much has been learned about the diversity of innate immune mechanisms. A large array of naturally produced antimicrobial peptides has been de- fined. A variety of cell surface receptors that recognize common patterns displayed by infectious organisms have been identified along with the intracellular pathways that these receptors use to activate cellular defense functions. Cell surface receptors on natural killer (NK) cells have been shown to sense microbial...

The technique of microinjection along with viral genetics and molecular biology has proven useful in the correlation of retroviral polynucleotide structure with function. The advantage of this technique is the involvement of living cells where rare activities may be observed and where properties of living cells can be assayed. Future studies involving recombinant DNA molecules and the asso- ciation of proteins with nucleic acids promise to yield additional insight into the nucleotide sequences involved in the expression of viral activities. References Anderson SM, Chen JH (1981) In vitro...