Rabies - Caused by Animal Bite

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The Rabies Virus infects the central nervous system, finally causing disease in the brain and death. The initial symptoms of rabies in people are comparable to that of many other illnesses, including fever, headache, and general weakness or irritation. As the disease advances, more definite symptoms appear and may include insomnia, anxiety, confusion, slight or partial paralysis, excitation, hallucinations, agitation, hypersalivation (increase in saliva), difficulty swallowing, and hydrophobia (fear of water). Loss of life usually occurs within days of the onset of these symptoms.

In the acute stage, symptoms of hyperactivity (furious rabies) or paralysis (dumb rabies) dominate. In both furious and dumb rabies, several paralyses eventually progresses to complete paralysis, resulted by coma and death in all cases, usually due to breathing stoppage. Without rigorous care, death occurs during the first seven days of illness.

The greater part of rabies cases are reported each year occurs through wild animals like raccoons, skunks, bats, foxes and home animals like dogs, cats etc. These animals with rabies may show a variety of symptoms, including fearfulness, aggression, excessive salivating, difficulty swallowing, staggering, and seizures. Rabid animals may only show unusual behavior (an animal that is usually only seen at night may be seen wandering in the daytime). Symptoms include frothing at the mouth, cruel behavior/personality transforms and convulsions which largely ends in the violent, overwhelming and blurry - eyed condition. In addition to those symptoms seen in dogs and cats, horses, cattle, sheep, and goats with rabies may display depression, self-mutilation, or increased sensitivity to light.

If you come to pass upon an animal showing any of these indications, get away from it and call your nearest animal welfare Department at once. A attack from a rabid dog or other animal claims some one's life in the developing world every 10 minutes.

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Dogs continue to be the leading carrier of rabies in Asia and Africa and are guilty for most of the human rabies deaths worldwide. Individuals more often become infected with rabies through the bite or scratch of an infected dog or cat.

Rabies deaths of human being following exposure to wild foxes like raccoons, skunks, jackals and wolves are very rare. Livestock like horses and deer can become infected with rabies, but even though they could transmit the virus to other animals or people, this rarely occurs.
In developed countries rabies remains mainly in wild animals. In the past, bat rabies has developed as a public health problem in the Americas and Europe. For the first time in 2003, large number of people in South America died from rabies following exposure to wildlife, particularly Bats, than from dogs!

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If by chance you are bitten, try to track it to where the animal lives (if it is a stray) so that the suitable officials may capture it for testing. If you do kill it, do not damage the head as this will be needed for verification. Also, if you are bitten by an animal show signs of any of the symptoms stated above, cautiously wash out the bite wound immediately and contact a Doctor nearby without fail. In general, your chances of getting rabies are rare though you can never be over cautious.

Wound cleansing and immunizations, done as soon as possible after doubtful contact with an animal and following WHO recommendations, can put off the onset of rabies in virtually 100% of exposures. Suggested treatment to prevent rabies depends on the category of the contact:

1. Category I: Handling or feeding suspect animals, but skin is intact
2. Category II: slight scratches without bleeding from contact, or licks on broken skin
3. Category III: one or further bites, scratches, licks on broken skin, or extra contact that breaks the skin; or exposure to bats

Post-exposure care to put off rabies includes cleaning and cleaning a wound, or point of contact, and then dispensing anti-rabies immunizations as soon as possible. Anti-rabies vaccine is provided for Category 2. and 3 exposures. Anti-rabies immunoglobin, or antibody, should be given for Category III contact, or to people with vulnerable immune systems.

When a person is exposed to suspect animals, efforts to identify, capture or humanely sacrifice the animal involved should be undertaken instantly. Post-exposure treatment should start right away and only be backed up if the animal is a dog or cat and remains healthy after 10 days. Animals that are sacrificed or have died should be verified for the virus, with results sent to dependable veterinary services and public health officials so that the condition in the area is well documented.

Exposure to a rabid animal does not always result in rabies. If treatment is started promptly following a rabies exposure, rabies can be averted. If a rabies exposure is not cured and a person develops clinical signs of rabies, the disease practically always results in death.

What if I am bitten?

Don't be frightened, but don't overlook the bite. Wash the wound carefully and vigorously with soap and lots of water. Contact your Doctor IMMEDIATELY.

The pre-exposure timetable for rabies vaccination:

Doses, provided at the following times:

Dose 1: Immediately
Dose 2: 7 days after Dose 1
Dose 3: 21 days or 28 days after Dose 1

For laboratory workers and others who may be frequently exposed to rabies virus, regular testing for immunity is recommended, and booster doses should be given as necessary. Consult your physician for more details.

Vaccination After Exposure:

Someone who has been bitten by a suspected animal, or who otherwise may have been exposed to rabies, should wash the wound and see a physician immediately. The physician will determine if they need to be vaccinated.

Anyone who is exposed and has never been vaccinated against rabies should get 4 doses of rabies vaccine - one dose immediately, and additional doses on the 3rd, 7th, and 14th days. They should also get extra shot called Rabies Immune Globulin at the same time as the first dose.

Anyone who has been previously vaccinated should obtain 2 doses of rabies vaccine - one immediately and another on the 3rd day. Rabies Immune Globulin is not necessary.

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