Human immune system has a potential to battle rabies

A unique medical case mesmerized doctors worldwide. According to Healthtalk.com, a 15-year-old female from Wisconsin survived rabies without receiving the rabies vaccine.

The parents of Jeanna Giese said a bat bit their daughter but she didn't realize what was wrong until it was too late to undergo conventional treatment.

A team of doctors from the Children's Hospital of Wisconsin used an experimental treatment which included an induced coma in an attempt to save the girl's life.

Doctors said she is weak, can't move or talk, but most important to her parents, she's still alive.

A team of eight specialists at Children's Hospital of Wisconsin in Wauwatosa intentionally placed Giese into a coma within an hour after her diagnosis on Oct. 19. The goal was to protect her brain while the virus ran its course through her body, said Rodney E. Willoughby, who headed the care team.

She was never given a &to=http://english.pravda.ru/fun/2001/10/01/16648.html' target=_blank>rabies vaccine because it is considered ineffective once clinical symptoms develop, reports Washington Times.

Dr Rodney Willoughby, an expert in child infectious disease who led the team, said the aim was to protect the &to=http://english.pravda.ru/science/19/94/377/14364_brain.html' target=_blank>brain while the disease ran its course through the rest of the teenager's body.

Previous research has indicated that the virus tends to kill by damaging the brain tissues.

Jeanna lapsed into a coma within an hour of starting treatment.