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8/13/2019 Rabies .
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Symptoms of rabies
The initial symptoms of rabies are mild, but they quickly become serious.
The incubation period
The incubation period is the time it takes for symptoms to develop after a person
is infected with the virus. The incubation period for rabies is usually two to 12 weeks,
although it can be as short as four days. It would be highly unusual for the incubation
period to last for more than a year.
The closer the site of infection is to your brain, the shorter the incubation period.
For eample, a bite to your face, head or neck will have a shorter incubation period than a
bite to your arm or leg.
The length of the incubation period is important because it is the only period in
which treatment can be successful.
Initial symptoms
The initial symptoms of rabies are often vague, and it can be easy to mistake them
for other less serious types of infection. They include!
a high temperature of "#$% &1''.($F) or above
chills
fatigue &etreme tiredness)
problems sleeping lack of appetite
headache
irritability
aniety
sore throat
vomiting
*round half of people will also eperience pain and a tingling sensation at the site
of the infection.
Advanced symptoms
Initial symptoms of rabies last for two to 1' days before more severe symptoms
start to develop. There are two types of advanced rabies!
furious rabies, which accounts for four out of five cases
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dumb or paralytic rabies, which accounts for the remainder of cases
Furious rabies
Furious rabies is characterised by episodes of increasingly odd and hyperactive
behaviour, separated by periods of relative calm. +uring these episodes a person may
have some or all of the following signs and symptoms!
aggressive behaviour, such as thrashing out or biting
agitation
hallucinations seeing or hearing things that are not real
delusions believing things that are obviously untrue
ecessive production of saliva
high temperature &fever) ecessive sweating
the hair on their skin stands up
a sustained erection &in men)
-eople with furious rabies will also develop hydrophobia &a fear of water). This
initially begins as a pain in the throat or difficulty swallowing. n attempting to swallow,
the muscles in the throat go into a brief spasm that lasts for a few seconds. /ubsequently
the sight, sound or even the mention of water &or any other liquid) can trigger further
spasms. There will also be fear of bright light &photophobia) and fear of bree0es
&aerophobia).
* few days after these symptoms develop, the affected person will fall into a
coma and die, usually as a result of heart or lung failure.
Dumb or paralytic rabies
+umb rabies, sometimes called paralytic rabies, is characterised by muscle
weakness, loss of sensation andparalysis&inability to move one or more muscles). This
usually begins in the hands and feet before spreading throughout the body.
ydrophobia is unusual in cases of dumb rabies, although muscles may go into
spasm. *s with furious rabies, someone with dumb rabies will fall into a coma and
eventually die from heart or lung failure.
Symptoms of rabies in an animal
*s with humans, the symptoms of rabies in an animal follow a number of stages.
http://www.nhs.uk/conditions/Paralysis/Pages/Introduction.aspxhttp://www.nhs.uk/conditions/Paralysis/Pages/Introduction.aspx8/13/2019 Rabies .
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The first stage is marked by initial vague symptoms, such as!
loss of appetite
a change in normal behaviour, such as appearing unusually tame around
strangers
The second stage is known as the mad dog stage and usually lasts for two to
four days. It is characterised by aggressive and erratic behaviour, such as!
constantly barking or growling
no fear of normal natural enemies
attempting to attack and bite anything that comes near, including
inanimate ob3ects
The final stage, known as the paralytic stage, lasts for two to four days and is
characterised by symptoms such as!
the animal appearing to be choking
foaming at the mouth
the dropping of the lower 3aw &in dogs)
paralysis of the 3aw, mouth and throat muscles
RABIES AND HDR!"H!BIA
ydrophobia occurs due to the bite of rabid animals resulting in the introduction
of rabies virus into the body. 4ceptionally licks or dropping of saliva on a wound may
also cause hydrophobia.
5abies and hydrophobia are not the same6 patients can develop hydrophobia for a
variety of reasons, most likely due to a psychiatric disorder. The hydrophobia caused by
rabies is due to the neurological effects of a virus. -atients that ehibit hydrophobia 7is
actually presenting with a complement of symptoms including difficulty swallowing asthe throat becomes paraly0ed, inability to quench thirst, and panic when presented with
fluids. The latter two are the result of inflammation in the brain after the virus has entered
the central nervous system, making hydrophobia one of the later symptoms that appear.
There are several other symptoms that appear and are more diagnostic of rabies than
hydrophobia, which is good since treatment needs to occur early after eposure.
http://www.nhs.uk/conditions/Paralysis/Pages/Introduction.aspxhttp://www.nhs.uk/conditions/Paralysis/Pages/Introduction.aspx