The virus is a Lyssavirus. This genus of RNA viruses also includes the Aravan virus, Australian bat
lyssavirus,
Duvenhage virus, European bat lyssavirus 1, European bat lyssavirus 2, Irkut virus,
Khujand virus,
Lagos bat
virus, Mokola virus and West Caucasian bat virus. Lyssaviruses have helical symmetry, so
their infectious particles
are approximately cylindrical in shape. This is typical of plant-infecting
viruses; human-infecting viruses more
commonly have cubic symmetry and take shapes approximating
regular
polyhedra. Negri bodies in the infected
neurons are pathognomonic.
The virus has a bullet-like shape with a length of about 180 nm and a cross-sectional
diameter of
about 75 nm.
One end is rounded or conical and the other end is planar or concave. The lipoprotein
envelope carries
knob-
like spikes composed of Glycoprotein G. Spikes do not cover the planar end of the virion
(virus
particle).
Beneath the envelope is the membrane or matrix (M) protein layer which may be invaginated at
the
planar end.
The core of the virion consists of helically arranged ribonucleoprotein. The genome is unsegmented
linear
antisense RNA. Also present in the nucleocapsid are RNA dependent RNA transcriptase and some structural
proteins.
The targets of the rabies virus are nerve cells. Nerve cells are one part of the body’s nervous
system.
The nervous system helps direct body movements. It helps us run, walk, move, sit, and touch.
It also
helps us adjust to changes going on around the body, for example by sweating when it is hot.
How the rabies virus interacts with the nerve cells:
There are four main stages the virus goes through:
- Attachment: The rabies virus attaches itself to a healthy nerve cell.
- Penetration: The virus is taken in by the cell.
- Replication:Inside the cell, the virus multiplies rapidly.
- Budding: The new rabies virus leaves the host cell. It attaches to other nerve cells.
The virus then
spreads from the brain to the rest of the body by the nerves.
