Rabies is a highly infectious viral disease that can destroy the lives of both the animal and human affected. Rabies happens in humans when they are bitten by an animal affected with the rabies virus. Rabies has been around for over 4,000 years, but diagnosing and preventing it have not necessarily been as helpful as they would like. Rabies is almost always deadly in humans who get it, and don’t get treatment. Rabies is pretty rare in the U. S with only 55 reported cases since about 1990, but in some other areas of the world, rabies is much more common and more deadly due to less developed treatments.What are some common symptoms and signs of Rabies?The most common symptoms of rabies in humans is confusion, lots of movement, irritability, hallucinations, aggression, headaches, fever, muscle spasms, abnormal posture, weakness, sensitivity to bright lights, sounds and touch, difficulty speaking and large amounts of extra saliva or tears. These are all common, but some are more intense, or happen more often depending on the case. ? The symptoms you will start to feel first are headache, stiffness, fever, and irritability. ? The signs will get worse and worse the longer you wait to treat it. After being treated, the symptoms should go away within a few hours. ? These symptoms are always intense, painful and scary, but some survivors don’t even remember the symptoms at all. What is the difference between rabies in animals, and rabies in humans?Rabies comes in two forms for animals Paralytic and Furious. Paralytic; which is the kind that puts the carrier in paralysis right when contact is made. Furious; which is the kind that makes the carrier agitated, aggressive and restless right away. For humans though, these symptoms and outcomes are a little bit different. Most cases of rabies start out with headaches, and fever until more serious symptoms like the phobia of water (hydrophobia) from painful throat spasms and paralysis come to follow. The longer you wait to treat it, the worse this virus gets. Once paralysis starts to take place, the victim will not be able to bend their neck, make sounds, or even move their hand within 48 hours of not being treated. Furious rabies are somewhat the opposite, causing restlessness, and a constant movement. People rather than animals, are more common to have involuntary intense seizures that are extremely painful and terrifying.
Which animals commonly carry rabies, and how do we prevent it?Worldwide, most cases of rabies are caused by rabid dogs, and cats. Specifically in the U.S, the carriers are raccoons, dogs, cats and bats. There are a few ways to easily prevent getting bitten, like simply staying away from wild animals, that you aren’t familiar with. One way to prevent infection after being bitten is to get the rabies vaccination as quickly as possible, then doctors will treat the wound by washing it with soap, water, detergent or iodine for at least 15 minutes. Is rabies 100% fatal?Rabies is not 100% fatal, as though previously thought in the early 1900s. Jeanna Giese is the world’s first known survivor of rabies, without receiving the vaccination. Jeanna was just 15 years old when she got rabies, and went without the vaccination, but tried a different kind of treatment called the “Milwaukee protocol”. This protocol was not likely to work, but surprised the medical field with her case. Rabies kills about 55, 000 people around the world every year, but it definitely isn’t always fatal. In facts, rabies is one virus that has one of the most indestructible treatments, and can be treated very easily for most cases. There have been survivors of rabies, without the vaccine, but it is very rare to survive with little to no help. How is rabies treated?Thankfully rabies is very preventable, because of the rabies vaccine, created and founded by Louis Pasteur. This vaccine can be given pre- rabies exposure or post- rabies exposure. The best time obviously would be pre- rabies exposure, because it will come into effect sooner, rather than waiting to get the shot after the bite happens. People who work with rabid animals regularly like veterinarians or lab workers or zoo keepers, should receive the pre- vaccine, due to the danger of working with potential rabies carriers. Even those who have previously gotten the vaccine, should get the vaccine again after coming in direct contact with the virus. The shot will only be effective if given prior to the onset of their symptoms. If not given before symptoms, the patient will be expected to only live another seven days at the most after the symptoms appear.Is rabies gender specific? A study, and comparison was done in November of 2017, to reveal the number of cases in the U.S and Puerto Rico from January 2008- September 2017. This study showed that a majority of the cases affected males, but most people think that this is because Males are more likely to work with rabid animals than Females are. Most cases have come in contact with rabies through being bitten by an animal, only one known case was due to a kidney transplant, from an affected human. I believe that both genders are still at risk of getting this virus no matter the age, gender, or race. What was the first case of Rabies?
In the 16th century, an Italian Physician named Girolamo Fracastorodiscovered that rabies was a fatal disease affecting humans and animals, causing an “incurable wound”, but Louis Pasteur, was the first one to come up with a cure for the virus. Can rabies be spread without being bitten by an animal?Yes, but it is very rare. Rabies can be spread through the saliva, and bite of an infected animal. There have been only 4 cases in America of rabies that were not from animal bites. One being spread through a kidney transplant from an infected human, another few cases were from contamination of mucous membranes (through the eyes nose and mouth) organ transplants, and Aerosol transmission.