Rabies: sources of infection, symptoms and projections
Rabies is a deadly disease that, in almost 100% of cases, is fatal (there are only a few cases of recovery from it and it is not fully confirmed that the patient had just rabies). This is a viral infectious disease in which the human nervous system is severely affected.
How can you get rabies?
The rabies virus is found in the urine, saliva and tears of infected animals, after it enters the human body, it quickly infects the nervous system. A patient may have signs of cerebral edema, hemorrhage, and death of nerve cells of the spinal cord and brain.
A person can become infected with rabies from a sick animal, and both from a wild and domestic one. According to the World Health Organization, in 99% of cases, dogs are the source of infection, but cats, pigs, horses, cows, foxes, etc. can be dangerous. Most often, the rabies virus enters the human body after being bitten by an animal suffering from this disease, through skin damage or contact with the mucous membrane.
The animal becomes contagious even 3-10 days before the first obvious symptoms, that it is unhealthy, and then throughout the whole illness, until it dies. If he has a heavy drooling, it is afraid of water, he has tears, it is better to get around it.
Symptoms of rabies
The incubation period of rabies can be different: from 10 to 90 days or even more, but most often it is 30-50 days after the bite. The disease itself has 3 stages, depending on which there are different symptoms.
For the initial stage are characterized by such manifestations:
general malaise;
headache;
a slight increase in body temperature;
muscle pain;
poor appetite;
dry mouth;
sore throat and dry cough;
redness, burning, itching and nagging pains at the site of the bite.
The stage of arousal appears after 1-3 days and is characterized by such symptoms:
anxiety, anxiety;
attacks of hydrophobia (feeling of horror at the sound and appearance of water, spasms of the larynx and pharynx);
noisy breathing;
convulsions;
irritability;
aggressiveness;
sweating;
increased salivation.
After another 2-3 days, the next stage begins – paralytic. It is manifested by the following features:
sudden calm, fear of water disappears, a person begins to believe in recovery;
increase in body temperature to 40-42 ° C;
disturbance of consciousness;
convulsions;
paralysis of the limbs and respiratory tract.
The patient dies from respiratory arrest or heart failure.
Is it possible to cure rabies?
Today, rabies is an incurable disease. But there is a way to kill him in the bud, not allowing him to develop into the initial stage. To do this, inject a vaccine against rabies no later than the 14th day after the bite, but it is best on the day of possible infection.
Previously, the notorious 40 injections in the stomach from rabies were done, but modern drugs allow us to adhere to a different treatment regimen: it is desirable to introduce a vaccine on the day of the alleged infection, and then on the 3rd, 7th, 14th, 28th day after the bite and the last – 90 days after the first. The drug is administered intramuscularly, in the deltoid muscle or thigh.
If a person is bitten by an animal, it must be thoroughly washed with a soap and bite. You need to wash for 10 minutes, no less. After that, you must seek medical attention.
According to the World Health Organization, rabies can be completely eliminated by vaccinating animals. However, as long as we have so many homeless animals, it’s not even a dream. The most widespread rabies is in the countries of Asia and Africa, its cases have been encountered in more than 150 countries of the world. Careful and timely washing of the bite with soapy water can save a person’s life. Urgent vaccination according to the developed scheme will not allow the disease to develop.
