title: Survival of a newborn from a pregnant woman with rabies infection.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Rabies is very common in People's Republic of China. Each year thousands of people die because of this disease, but rabies diagnosed in pregnancy is very rare.
  
  
  METHODS
  In this study, we report the case of a pregnant woman who was infected with the rabies virus after a dog bite. The symptoms of rabies appeared in labor and she died after pregnancy. Her baby and husband did not develop the disease.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The phenomenon that the newborn infant was healthy may be related to the protective role of placenta in resisting the invasion of the rabies virus or the absence of systemic viremia. The prompt administration of vaccines and anti-rabies immunoglobulin to the infant may have also contributed to his survival.
authors.affiliation: Department of Pathogenic Biology and Immunology, Luohe Medical College, Luohe, Henan 462002 PR China.
authors.forename: Zhen-Yu
authors.initials: ZY
authors.lastname: Qu
authors.affiliation: Department of Prevention and Control of Infectious diseases, Zhengzhou Center for Disease Control and Prevention, Zhengzhou, Henan 472000 China.
authors.forename: Guo-Wei
authors.initials: GW
authors.lastname: Li
authors.affiliation: Department of Anatomy, Henan Medical College, Zhengzhou, Henan 472000 China.
authors.forename: Qiao-Ge
authors.initials: QG
authors.lastname: Chen
authors.affiliation: Department of Pathogenic Biology, Zhengzhou University, Zhengzhou, Henan 472000 China.
authors.forename: Peng
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Jiang
authors.affiliation: Department of Pathogenic Biology and Immunology, Luohe Medical College, Luohe, Henan 462002 PR China.
authors.forename: Chang
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Liu
authors.affiliation: School of Medicine and Griffith Health Institute, Griffith University, Gold Coast, Australia.
authors.forename: Alfred
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Lam
keywords: Newborn baby; Pregnant; Rabies