“Of love and other demons”: depicting human rabies in Colombia

In one of his masterpieces, the Colombian writer Gabriel García Márquez, one of the most remarkable exposers of magical realism in Latin America, summarizes the tragedy of a girl, known as Sierva María, who was bitten by a rabid dog. At that moment, the 17th century in Cartagena de Indias, Colombia, the lack of scientific knowledge, as well as the Catholic influence over its population made it difficult -for the physicians at that epoch- to distinguish whether it was a case of human rabies or a “demonic possession” (1).
This article aims to present the current epidemiological status of human rabies in Colombia while reviewing historical aspects of the disease presented in García Márquez’s book and other literary sources.

Human rabies, epidemiology, Colombia, literature

Human rabies, epidemiology, Colombia, literature