Milwaukee Protocol — from idea to implementation

Abstract

Despite the fact that rabies in the modern world is a rare sporadic disease, the relevance of its methods of treatment is beyond doubt, since in the absence of timely prevention, it is characterized by 100% mortality. As of 2020, there are about 70 cases of experimental rabies treatment protocols according to the Milwaukee Protocol Rabies Registry. The very idea that the human body can cope with the virus itself has been around for a long time. Even before the advent of the Milwaukee protocol, there were attempts at treatment at the stage of clinical manifestations. The first was Michael Huttwick of the Center for Infectious Disease Control in Atlanta, although the scientific community is still arguing whether it was really rabies. The essence of this protocol is the introduction of a patient into an artificial coma, the introduction of antiviral drugs, symptomatic therapy (anticolvusants, mechanical ventilation, etc.). At the moment, there is the sixth version of the Milwaukee Protocol (from 2018), which provides general recommendations for its maintenance, since the material base is too small to draw any general conclusions.