Symptoms of rabies and its dangers

Rabies is a very serious disease of a viral origin, which in most cases ends with the death of both a human and an animal. Symptoms of rabies are quite diverse, but, one way or another, are associated with degeneration of the nervous system.

Rabies: a brief description

As already mentioned, the cause of the disease is a rabies virus, which penetrates into the human body when bitten, along with the saliva of the infected animal. Dangerous to humans can be both wild animals and pets - most often foxes and dogs. But carriers can be bats, cattle, raccoons, wolves, cats, etc. They are considered dangerous starting from the third day after infection and until death. To distinguish such an animal is quite simple - it has increased secretion of saliva and tears.

The virus is transmitted with saliva and not only during a bite. For example, when a saliva of a diseased animal hits an open wound or mucous membrane - this, by the way, most often happens with domestic pets. Viral particles can be transmitted from a sick person - with a kiss or a bite.

Symptoms of rabies

The main and most simple method of diagnosis is the analysis of saliva for the content of viral particles.

Getting into the human body , the virus penetrates into the fibers of the nervous system and begins to actively spread throughout the body. The incubation period is about a month (although it can sometimes range from 10 days to 12 months) and depends on the site of the bite - the closer it is to the head, the faster degeneration will begin. During this period there are no signs - except that temporary pain in the wound.

Then there is weakness, loss of concentration, loss of appetite, nausea, headache, a slight increase in temperature - these are the first symptoms of rabies and, as a rule, do not pay attention to them. In addition, there may appear a runny nose and cough, taken for an ordinary cold, as well as abdominal pain, vomiting and diarrhea, which are diagnosed as an intestinal infection.

A few days later, the first signs of the nervous system appear. A sick person becomes aggressive, wild, excitable. He always tries to fight or bite someone. Along with this, the appearance of phobias begins, which before was not. A person can be afraid of water (this is exactly what happens in almost every case), light, wind, etc. Even with the mention of one word, a panic attack can begin - the patient becomes difficult to breathe, convulsions begin. But between these attacks a person is quite adequate. Quite often it is at this stage that people die - from cardiac arrest.

If, however, a person has survived the second stage and was not given treatment, paralysis begins. First, panic attacks disappear , the patient becomes too sluggish and calm - apathy appears, which is replaced by paralysis of the limbs, damage to spinal nerves, failure of organs and death.

Treatment of rabies

It is worth noting that if the incubation period is over and the first phase of development has come, then it is already impossible to stop the disease - only a few cases of curing of the disease have been known in history, but only at the initial stage. So do not wait for the symptoms of rabies. If you or one of your loved ones was bitten by an animal, you must contact the hospital within 14 days, where the doctor will introduce the necessary vaccine, designed to strengthen the immune defenses. The substance is injected either into the hip or shoulder five times on certain days after the bite.

Prevention of rabies is the introduction of a special vaccine, which was first used by Louis Pasteur. This is especially important for those people who keep animals in the house or work with them (for example, cynologists or animal trainers).