829

rabies in dogs was similarly associated with high, per-sisting titres of neutralising antibody in serum andC.S.F.39Small rodents and carnivores of central Europe and

Thailand may be infected with rabies or rabies-likeviruses and remain healthy.2o,24 Since such smallanimals are ubiquitous, they could be a source ofinfection and reinfection for the many species whichprey on them.What is the importance of inapparent rabies infec-

tion in nature? The idea suggests exposure to rabiesvirus may be wider throughout the various animalpopulations than previously believed. More import-antly, it provides hope that man also may surviveexposure to rabies virus.9 The recovery of a six-year-old boy, bitten on the hand by a rabid bat and eventu-ally returned to health with the aid of exemplarysupportive care, accords with this hope.10Documentation of inapparent rabies infection, and

survival of man and animals after exposure to rabiesvirus, indicate that this infectious agent is not as lethalas commonly believed. Rabies-virus infection in ani-mals, although usually fatal, can lead to a spectrumof conditions, from no disease, through normal sur-vival and survival with residual signs, to paralysisand death, depending, as with other infectious agents,on dose, route of transmission, type of tissue exposed,species, age, previous experience of the agent or withrelated agents, host resistance, and stress and othermodifiers of exposure and susceptibility.We thank Mrs M. Stanton for assistance with preparing the

manuscript.Requests for reprints should be addressed to T. C. D., School

of Public Health, University of Illinois at the Medical Center,P.O. Box 6998, Chicago, Illinois 60680, U.S.A.

REFERENCES

1. Tierkel, E. S. Adv. vet. Sci. 1959, 5, 183.2. Borts, I. H., Top, F. H., Sr. Communicable and Infectious Diseases

(edited by F. H. Top, Sr.); p. 453. St. Louis, 1968.3. Fenje, P. Can. J, publ. Hlth, 1968, 59, 217.4. Yasmuth, C., Roberts, C. E., Jr., Doege, T. C. J. med. Ass. Thailand,

1974, 57, 131.5 Blamire, R. V. Postgrad. med. J. 1973, 49, 547.6. Kaplan, M. M. Nature, 1969, 221, 421.7. Plotkin, S. A., Clark, H. F. J. infect. Dis. 1971, 123, 227.8. Sikes, R. K. Am. J. publ. Hlth, 1970, 60, 1133.9. Bell, J. F. J. infect. Dis. 1964, 114, 249.

10. Bell, J. F., Sancho, M. I., Diaz, A. M., Moore, G. J. Am. J.Epidemiol. 1972, 95, 190.

11. Vaughn, J. B., Jr., Gerhardt, P. Newell, K. W. J. Am. med. Ass.1965, 193, 363.

12. Sikes, R. K. Am. J. vet. Res. 1962, 23, 1041.13. Ferris, D. H., Badialli, L., Abou-youssef, M., Beamer, P. D.

Cornell Vet. 1968, 58, 270.14. Hronovsky, V., Benda, R. Acta Virol., Prague, 1969, 13, 193.15. Winkler, W. G., Baker, E. F., Jr., Hopkins, C. C. Am. J. Epidemiol.

1972, 95, 267.16. Soave, O. A. Am. J. vet. Res. 1964, 25, 268.17. Nanavati, A. N. Indian J. med. Sci. 1973, 27, 649.18. Sérié, C., Andral, L. Annls Inst. Pasteur, Paris, 1962, 104, 123.19. Yasmuth, C., Rowe, T. O., Doege, T. C., Na Bangxang, H. Lancet,

1970, i, 1312.20. Phuangsab, A., Panas-Ampol, K., Lawhaswasdi, K., LeBeau, L. J.

J. med. Ass. Thailand, 1967, 50, 26.21. Baer, G. M., Olson, H. R. J. Am. vet. med. Ass. 1972, 160, 1127.22. Tierkel, E. S. Ann. N.Y. Acad. Sci. 1970, 70, 445.23. Constantine, D. G., Emmons, R. W., Woodie, J. D. Science, 1972,

175, 1255.24. Schneider, L. G., Schoop, U. Annls Inst. Pasteur, Paris, 1972, 123,

469.25. W.H.O. Expert Committee on Rabies, Sixth Report; p. 14.

Geneva, 1973.26. Tignor, G. H., Shope, R. E. J. infect. Dis. 1974, 125, 322.27. Ruegsegger, J. M., Black, J., Sharpless, G. R. Am. J. pub. Hlth,

1961, 51, 706 (May).

28. Brodsky, A. Personal communication.29. Constantine, D. G. Pub. Hlth Rep. 1962, 77, 287.30. Winkler, W. G., Fashinell, T. R., Leffingwell, L., Howard, P.,

Conomy, J. P. J. Am. med. Ass. 1973, 226, 1219.31. Irons, J. V., Eads, R. B., Grimes, J. E., Conklin, A. Tex. Rep. Biol.

Med. 1957, 15, 292.32. Humphrey, G. L., Kemp, G. E., Wood, E. G. Publ. Hlth Rep. 1960,

75, 317.33. Correa-Giron, E. P., Allen, R., Sulkin, S. E. Am. J. Epidemiol. 1970,

91, 203.34. Bell, J. F., Moore, G. J. ibid. 1971, 93, 176.35. Baer, G. M., Abelseth, M. K., Debbie, J. G. ibid. p. 487.36. Patterson, M. A. Br. med. J. 1963, ii, 1067.37. Fox, J. P. Ann. N.Y. Acad. Sci. 1958, 70, 480.38. Lodmell, D. J., Bell, J. F., Moore, J., Raymond, G. H. J. infect. Dis.

1969, 119, 569.39. Bell, J. F., Gonzales, M. A., Diaz, A. M., Moore, G. J. Am. J. vet.

Res. 1971, 32, 2049.40. Hattwick, M. A. W., Weis, T. T., Stechschulte, C. J., Baer, G. M.,

Gregg, M. B. Ann. intern. Med. 1972, 76, 931.

Round the World

United States

FARCE AND FANATICISM

. Never before in the U.S. has there been such an in-

auspicious beginning to the school year. In half a dozen

large cities and in several counties, school teachers startedthe year on strike. Elsewhere in Boston and Baltimorethere have been boycotts and riots following the bus-ingof White children to predominantly Black schools. Senator

Kennedy was shouted down and hustled off the speaker’splatform in Boston, the stronghold of the Kennedy dynasty.But the strangest of all boycotts is taking place in CharlestonCounty, West Virginia. So bizarre and newsworthy is thesituation that the Wall Street Journal recently devoted agoodly portion of its front page to it. To find a comparablesituation, it is necessary to go back to the Scopes Monkeytrial of the late 1920s, but unfortunately there is no jour-nalist of the calibre of H. L. Mencken to do literary justiceto the present farce.

It seems that, following the election of two new membersof the Kanawha County School Board of Education, severaladditions were made to the list of set books for Englishliterature and other subjects. The new texts included someof the works of Ernest Hemingway, James Baldwin, andElridge Cleaver. Tracts with such corrupting titles as" The Dynamics of Language ", " Man ", and " Communi-cation " were also added to the list. A vigorous campaignagainst such all-pervasive filth is presently being wagedby four fundamentalist clergymen and their followers.As a result, picket lines have been formed outside schools,two men have been shot and seriously wounded, and mostcoalminers in Kanawha, Boone, and neighbouring countiesare out on a sympathy strike. None of the four clergymenhas been to a recognised college, two are self-appointed andself-anointed, and all appear to have other jobs or busi-nesses. Three of the four have been charged with unlawfulassembly and inciting a crowd to violence, one of the threeis in jail, and two others are on bail. As one said in a tele-vision interview, " I’m just a parent who loves my children,and I don’t want them exposed to no filth ", It is, indeed,difficult not to feel that some of the books should be banned,not because they are offensive and prurient, which severalare, but because with few exceptions they are appallinglydull (Hemingway excluded), disgustingly ungrammatical,and suffused with jargon and slang.But the U.S. in this regard is exceptional. Where else in

the world can one see Oral Roberts performing healingacts on T.v. most Sundaymornings ? The South is notcalled the Bible Belt for nothing; Darwin is still beyond thepale, and Soapy Sams abound, but there is a dearth of

Huxleys.