Rabies: What you need to know about the disease.

Rabies is an acute infectious disease of animals and humans, characterized by the development of a kind of encephalitis with rapid damage to the central nervous system.

If a person does not receive appropriate medical care after a bite, skin damage, or saliva from an animal, the virus can cause brain disease, which will eventually lead to death. The mortality rate from rabies for humans after the onset of symptoms is 100%. Rabies can be prevented by annually vaccinating domestic animals, staying away from wild animals, and seeking medical care before symptoms appear.

It has been proven that rabies causes 59,000 human deaths annually in more than 150 countries, with 95% of cases occurring in Africa and Asia.

Cats and dogs are the most common sources of infection in humans, and foxes, wolves, and bats in the wild. Stray animals are particularly at risk.

If you are bitten or licked by a stray or wild animal, thoroughly wash the wound for at least 15 minutes with soap and water, detergents, or other agents (70% alcohol or 5% iodine solution) that neutralize the virus. After that, be sure to seek medical help.

In humans, the incubation period of rabies lasts 1–3 months, but can vary from one week to a year, depending on:

the location, number, and depth of the bite (the most dangerous bites are to the face and head in general);

the amount and activity of the virus that has entered the wound;

the age of the victim (children are more vulnerable than adults).

The initial symptoms of rabies are fever and pain, unusual or incomprehensible sensations - tingling, prickling, or burning at the site of the injury.

People with active rabies are characterized by hyperactivity, hydrophobia (fear of water) and sometimes aerophobia (fear of drafts or fresh air). Death occurs within a few days as a result of cardiac arrest. Paralytic rabies lasts longer and has a milder course: muscles gradually become paralyzed, starting from the site of the bite or scratch, coma slowly develops and death occurs. If symptoms appear, there is no specific treatment, the disease is almost always fatal.

In case of infection, immediate hospitalization and administration of the anti-rabies vaccine are indicated. There should be five such vaccinations: on the day of seeking medical attention (day 0), and then on days 3, 7, 14 and 28. The anti-rabies vaccine prevents the disease in 96–99% of cases. It is effective if the course is started no later than day 14 from the moment of the bite or salivation. Immunity becomes effective approximately two weeks after the end of the vaccination course and remains so for a year.

People are subject to mandatory vaccination:

who have been bitten by rabid or suspected rabies animals directly or through clothing, even with the slightest damage to the skin;

bitten by any wild animals (even without suspicion of rabies);

scratched by animals suspected of rabies or in case of splashing of scratches with saliva of such animals, its contact with mucous membranes;

who have suffered any micro-damage to the skin while working with rabid animals, pathological material or transporting animal corpses for research.

Iryna Mandebura, epidemiologist, Central Medical Center