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 e ample, 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 &e treme tiredness) problems sleeping lack of appetite headache irritability an iety sore throat vomiting

*round half of people will also e perience 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

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 e cessive production of saliva high temperature &fever) e cessive 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 and paralysis &inability to move one or more muscles). This usually begins in the hands and feet before spreading throughout the body. 1ydrophobia 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.

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 2mad dog2 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 2paralytic2 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 H DR!"H!BIA 1ydrophobia occurs due to the bite of rabid animals resulting in the introduction of rabies virus into the body. 4 ceptionally 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 e hibit hydrophobia 7is actually presenting with a complement of symptoms including difficulty swallowing as the 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 2hydrophobia2 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 e posure.