Symptoms and Treatment of Rabies in Animals and Humans

Rabies has an appropriately scary reputation. A viral disease that attacks the nervous system of mammals, it is always fatal once symptoms occur. Although rabies has become much rarer in western countries because of the extensive use of rabies vaccines, there is still an active rabies reservoir in wild animals such as skunks, raccoons, bats and foxes.

The rabies virus, called rhabdovirus, is introduced into the body through a bite, saliva on an open wound or mucous membrane (nose, mouth and eyes). It then moves to the brain, causing encephalitis, and in the last stages of the diseases travels back into the salivary glands. Rabies can be infectious for as long as two weeks before symptoms appear, which is why suspected animals must be immediately confined and observed.

There are two types of rabies, but both types cause personality changes. A previously affectionate dog may become irritable, or vice versa. In furious rabies, the animal may display vicious behavior, excitability, agitation, aggression, fearlessness, hypersalivation, aversion to water, dilated pupils, inability to swallow or drink, muscular problems, lack of coordination, gait peculiarities, convulsions, paralysis, and death, usually within ten days. There may be fever, vomiting and diarrhea.

In dumb or paralytic rabies, animals may avoid contact with humans or other animals, be lethargic, lose their appetite, howl, have hind leg weakness, or display no signs at all and die within four days. To make diagnosis more difficult, many of these symptoms can be signs of other diseases, injuries or conditions. But it's wise to err on the side of wisdom when it comes to rabies because there is currently no test available to prove that a live animal has rabies. Examining the brain of the animal post-mortem is the only definitive way to show the presence of rabies.

The incubation period between exposure and the onset of symptoms is between 21 and 80 days in dogs, but that varies widely. Rabies can be avoided in humans if treatment is immediate following exposure. There is no effective treatment for dogs or cats except washing the wound with soap and water (using waterproof gloves) or flushing the mucous membrane with warm water and having your pet vaccinated or revaccinated and then observed for 45 days. If there is a lot of bleeding, fingers or hands can be used for pressure or a pressure bandage applied.

A 2004 Indonesian study found that mass extermination of street dogs, cats and monkeys, which has been employed as a rabies deterrent in a number of countries in Asia, the Middle East, Eastern Europe, and South America, does nothing to stop the spread of rabies. The best way to curb rabies is through preventive vaccination.

The World Health Organization has established guidelines for treatment of possibly rabid animals, which depends on the nature of the exposure, the severity of the injury, and the condition of the animal in question at exposure, along with a ten-day observation period. If the animal displays any signs of rabies during that period, he should be humanely euthanized. If there is any suspicion of rabies in your pet, the official recommendation is to impound the animal and immediately call your vet, as well as your doctor if human exposure is involved. If the incident involves a wild, feral or homeless animal, the best if not the happiest course is to kill the animal right away in order to test their brains for rabies.

Unvaccinated pets who are under suspicion for rabies must either be euthanized or placed in isolation for six months and then vaccinated against rabies either a month before release or at the beginning of the isolation period.

Rabies treatment for humans consists of the administration of an HRIG (human anti-rabies immune globulin) intramuscular injection as an antibody, plus five doses of human diploid cell rabies vaccine in the arm the first, third, seventh, fourteenth and twenty-eighty days after exposure. Another available and cheaper choice is multiple site intradermal injections. Even those who have had prophylactic rabies vaccinations need to get the vaccine, though in fewer doses, and they don't need HRIG. In addition, a tetanus toxoid injection is recommended.

The incubation period for rabies in humans is three to eight weeks. Symptoms of rabies in humans are irritability, unusual depression, headache, fever, and sometimes itching or pain at the exposure site. Eventually the disease will progress to paralysis, throat muscle spasms, convulsions, delirium, and death.

People who handle animals on a regular basis should consider getting the series of three rabies vaccines (on days 0, 7 and 21) even though they will need post-exposure treatment if bitten. This includes veterinarians, wildlife workers, animal control personnel, animal shelter workers, and travelers to areas where rabies is common. Children under twelve are considered the age group at highest risk for contracting rabies, and rabies vaccines might be considered for them.