Rabies

Most animals can be infected by the virus and can transmit the disease to man. Infected bats, raccoons, foxes, skunks, dogs or cats provide the greatest risk to humans. About 70 percent of rabies cases develop from wild animal bites that break the skin.

Rabies organism causes highly fatal acute encephalomyelitis characterized by fever, headache, and parasthesia. This may lead to paresis, spasm of muscles, and finally delirium and convulsions. An important feature is the spasm of the muscles of deglutition on attempting to swallow, which results in an excessive fear of drinking water (hydrophobia). Rabies has a wide range of animal hosts, both domestic and wild. These include dogs, wolves, and foxes. In Latin America, vampire bats are known to transmit rabies to cattle.Imported dogs should be quarantined for as long as six months. All pet dogs should be subjected to leash laws, licensing, and compulsory immunization.Human cases are proportional to the prevalence of rabid dogs. Hence, control measures should focus on the vaccination of dogs and the destruction of strays. After a bite from a suspected animal, the victim is treated by immediate and thorough cleansing of the wound site. Active immunization is also given by human anti-rabies immunoglobin injected around the wound site. Active immunization is also given, using inactivated vaccine grown in human diploid fibroblasts.

The disease is also called hydrophobia (meaning fear of water) because it causes painful muscle spasms in the throat that prevent swallowing. In fact, this is what leads to fatalities in untreated cases: Victims die of dehydration.

• Bite by animal, bug, or others 
• Dog bite, bat bite, or bite by a skunk, raccoon, or fox (most common animals to transmit)
• Low-grade fever (102 F or lower) 
• Pain at the site of the bite 
• Swallowing difficulty (drinking produces spasms of the larynx) or swallowing difficulty with liquids only 
• Restlessness 
• Excitability 
• Muscle spasms 
• Sensitive skin
• Convulsions 
• Numbness and tingling 
• Loss of muscle function 
• Loss of feeling in an area of the body 
• Drooling 
• Anxiety, stress, and tension 
• Positive Babinski's reflex

Rabies can be prevented by the following practices:

• Stay away from strange animals. 
• Insist that neighbors obey leash laws. 
• If you plan on traveling to an area where rabies is common in domestic animals (India, parts of South America), develop immunity to the virus by getting injections of human diploid cell rabies vaccine. Ask your doctor for details.
• Vaccination of dogs every 2 years in areas of the U.S. where rabies exists in wild animals.
• Vaccination of people in high-risk occupations. 
• Quarantine regulations on importing dogs and other mammals in disease-free countries.

Rabies is caused by a virus that infects the central nervous system - the brain and spinal cord. The virus enters through the skin or mucous membranes, then travels to the brain, where it multiplies and migrates through nerves to other tissues. The incubation period ranges from 10 days to 7 years, with the average period 3 to 7 weeks. In the past human cases usually resulted from a dog bite but most recently cases of human rabies have been linked to rabies virus carried by bats. Bats, skunks, raccoons, foxes, and other animals are other sources of rabies virus.

If you are bitten, your doctor will need to know what kind of animal bit you, and under what circumstances. If the animal is found to be healthy, or if its owner can prove that his animal has been vaccinated for rabies, you probably won't need treatment, except to cleanse the wound. But if you're unsure of the animal's health, your doctor should give you the shots that prevent rabies without waiting for any confirmation that the animal was infected. Immunofluorescence (fluorescent antibody test) performed on the suspect animal may show that the animal has rabies.

• If you are bitten: by a wild animals: an animal control officer should sacrifice the animal. All biting wild animals should be tested for RABIES as soon as possible. 
• By a cat or DOG: obtain information about the pet animal. Include a description of the animal and licensing number or identification, owner's name, address and telephone number and 

After acquiring this disease, the patient is hospitalized and given intravenous nutrition.

This can be a very traumatic experience for a sufferer. Complete rest and cultivating a positive attitude is essential for early recovery.