Rabies is a dangerous disease caused by viruses from the family of rhabdoviruses. The sources of infection for humans are wild and domestic animals, the main of which are: cats, dogs, farm animals, foxes, wolves, rodents, bats, badgers, etc. Viruses from sick animals are transmitted through saliva during a bite, infected saliva on the damaged skin.
What is rabies?
After entering the body, rabies viruses enter the central nervous system through the nerve trunks, spread along the peripheral nerves, enter various internal organs, causing inflammatory, dystrophic and necrotic changes in the tissues. The insidiousness of this disease, which threatens a fatal outcome, lies in the fact that it does not manifest itself immediately, and when the initial signs appear, the treatment is practically useless. Therefore it is important to know which incubation period of rabies in a person after infection before the appearance of the first symptoms.
The incubation period of rabies in humans
The duration of the incubation period of the infection is not the same in different cases and depends on many factors: the place of the bite, the amount of the pathogen that has entered the wound, the age and the state of human immunity, etc. The most dangerous places of the bite, in which the disease develops rapidly, and hence the incubation period lasts less, are: head, hands, genitals (because these areas are rich in nerve endings). If infection occurs through the lower extremities, the incubation period is longer.
In most cases, the period before the appearance of the clinical picture of the disease lasts from 10 days to 3-4 months. Rarely it lasts from 4 to 6 months. The medicine and longer incubation periods are known for human rabies, the maximum of which is fixed is 6 years.
Symptoms of rabies in humans
A typical picture of the pathology includes the following symptoms:
- slight elevation of body temperature (usually up to 37.3 ° C);
- pain in the site of infection;
- sleep disorders;
- headaches ;
- anxiety;
- oppression;
- digestive disorders;
- increased sensitivity to various stimuli (bright light, loud sound, etc.);
- increased sweating;
- aggressiveness;
- rabies;
- hallucinations;
- convulsions ;
- paralytic disorders.