Rabies is the oldest known zoonosis, as references to it exist in the earliest recorded histories. Rabies virus, the causative agent of the disease, is transmitted through the bites of rabid animals. The virus causes a neurologic disorder that drives an infected animal to bite during a period of rage coincident with the release of infectious virus into saliva. Human rabies deaths are rare in this country and other developed nations, largely because of canine vaccination programs. The virus still cycles in wild mammals, including bats and raccoons in New York State, with bats implicated in the vast majority of human rabies cases in North America. Conventional methods of domestic animal vaccination and postexposure rabies treatment for humans are still the stalwarts of control. Novel methods promise further reduction of this ancient scourge. These innovations include: wildlife vaccination programs using baits laced with genetically engineered oral vaccine; bat exclusion and roost relocation from sites with high bat/human interaction; aggressive public education about risky bat encounters; and transgenic technologies that produce rabies-specific antibodies and rabies vaccine antigens in tomato and tobacco plants.
As chief of the Laboratory of Zoonotic Disease and Clinical Virology, Mr. Trimarchi oversees research and service programs associated with such zoonotic diseases as West Nile virus and rabies, and with human viral infections such as influenza and SARS. Other studies in the laboratories in his purview range from the population genetics of mosquito vectors of disease to the detection of the calicivirus that causes large outbreaks of intestinal illness recently plaguing the cruise ship industry. His primary research interests as longtime director of the Wadsworth Center's Rabies Laboratory were the development of methods to detect that virus, and the study of the natural history of rabies in bats. He participates in local, state and national committees that develop rabies control guidelines, coordinate multi-agency efforts to establish animal disease control, and enhance preparedness of public health laboratories to respond to natural and biodefense-related emergencies.