Rabies symptoms

The incubation period of rabies is usually 1-3 months, ranging from less than a week to as long as a year, depending on the location of the rabies virus entry and the rabies virus Loading capacity and other factors. The initial symptoms of rabies are fever and often pain at the wound site or an abnormal or unexplained throbbing, stinging or burning sensation (paresthesia). As the virus spreads through the central nervous system, progressive inflammation of the brain and spinal cord develops that can be fatal. The following two situations may occur:

The symptoms of manic rabies patients are hyperactivity, restlessness, fear of water, and sometimes wind. The patient died of cardiorespiratory failure a few days later.

Paralytic rabies accounts for approximately 30% of human deaths. The course of the disease is less severe and usually longer than that of manic rabies. Starting at the site of the bite or scratch, the muscles gradually become paralyzed, and then the patient gradually falls into coma and eventually dies. Paralytic rabies is often misdiagnosed, resulting in underreporting of rabies.

Diagnosis

Currently, there is no testing method to diagnose whether a person is infected with rabies before clinical symptoms appear. If there are no specific symptoms of hydrophobia and wind fear, it may be difficult to make a clinical diagnosis. Human rabies can be confirmed in vivo and postmortem by a variety of diagnostic techniques designed to detect viruses, viral antigens, or amino acids in infected tissue (brain, skin, urine, or saliva).

Communication

Humans usually contract rabies after a deep bite or scratch from an infected animal, and 99% of human rabies cases are transmitted from rabid dogs to humans. Africa and Asia face the heaviest human rabies burden, accounting for 95% of global rabies deaths.

Having largely contained canine transmission in the Americas, bats are now the leading cause of human rabies deaths in the Americas. Bat rabies has also recently emerged as a public health threat in Australia and Western Europe. Human mortality from exposure to foxes, raccoons, skunks, jackals, mongooses, and other predatory wild hosts is extremely rare. Additionally, there are no known cases of rabies following a rodent bite.

The disease can also be spread through direct contact with human mucous membranes or newly damaged skin with infectious material (usually saliva). Human-to-human transmission from bites is theoretically possible but has never been proven.

Rabies infection is rare through inhalation of aerosols containing viral particles or through transplantation of infected organs. Human transmission of rabies from ingestion of raw animal meat or other tissues has never been confirmed.

Integrated management of bite cases

If possible, the veterinary service should be notified, the biting animal identified, and the animal (healthy dog ​​or cat) quarantined observe. Or the animal can be euthanizedfor immediate laboratory examination. Precautions must continue during the 10-day observation period or while waiting for laboratory results. If the animal is proven not to be rabid, treatment can be discontinued. If the animal suspected of being rabid cannot be captured and tested, the entire prophylaxis program should be completed.

Rabies is a vaccine-preventable viral disease. This disease exists in more than 150 countries and regions around the world.

The vast majority of human rabies deaths are caused by dogs, and up to 99% of human infection cases are transmitted by dogs.

Rabies can be eliminated by vaccinating dogs and preventing dog bites.

The infection kills tens of thousands of people each year, mostly in Asia and Africa.

Children under the age of 15 account for 40% of the victims bitten by suspected rabid animals.

After contact with a suspected rabid animal, immediate and thorough debridement with soap and water is extremely important and can save lives.

WHO, the World Organization for Animal Health (OIE), the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) and the Global Alliance for Rabies Control have established the Joint Global Anti-Rabies Collaboration, proposing a joint strategy to Achieve “zero human rabies deaths by 2030”.