Rabies: incubation period in people, symptoms and diagnosis

Rabies is one of the most serious infectious diseases, which has a viral nature. There is a pathology with serious consequences for the nervous system and in most cases leads to the death of the patient. Call a person the appearance of this infection can bite the animal. But what smaller brothers can become the culprits of such a serious disease as rabies? The incubation period in a human for how many days does it last? Let's try to figure this out.

Animals - carriers of the rabies virus

To date, there are two types of rabies: natural and urban. The first is transmitted through wild animals - bats, foxes, wolves, jackals.

And with the second carrier, pets are considered, but more often than not, rabies is transmitted through the bite of an infected dog. How long does the incubation period of rabies occur in a person? How to recognize that an animal is infected with this virus?

Rabies in an animal: how to recognize?

The danger of infected animals is that they can begin to manifest the first signs of the disease only after a couple of months.

If we talk about rabies, the incubation period in humans is one, and in the animal it depends on age and weight and can range from 7 days to a year. Determine this disease in animals can be on such grounds:

• Inadequate behavior. Wild animals can lose their sense of caution and approach the home inhabitants and people. And pets with rabies change their behavior - become more affectionate, lazy and sleepy.

• Changing appetite. An animal infected with rabies can eat inedible food, such as land.
• Abundant salivation and vomiting. These symptoms in rabies can appear in the animal very often. Violated the process of swallowing, the animals choking with food.
• Violation of coordination. The animal often staggers when walking.
• Aggression. This symptom may appear one of the last, and as a rule, after a couple of days the animal dies.

But what is the incubation period of rabies in a person after infection? What causes the disease?

Causes of rabies

The causative agent of the disease is the virus Neuroiyctes rabid. A person becomes infected from the saliva of a diseased animal that enters the wound during a bite. The virus is transmitted through saliva. The most dangerous for a person are considered bites in the head and a hand.

After entering the wound, the virus spreads very quickly through all the nerve trunks and reaches the central nervous system, and after penetrating the periphery affects the entire nervous system. Breeding, the causative agent causes serious changes: hemorrhage, edema, alteration of nerve cells.

With the accelerated development of the symptoms of the disease, a person dies very quickly, only an instant response and the introduction of a vaccine in the first hours after a bite give a chance for survival. But how is rabies clinically manifested? How many people can last an incubation period?

Rabies: clinical manifestations

In our age of technology, a vaccine has long been created, thanks to which the patient can quickly get rid of rabies infection, and clinical signs in this case - a rare phenomenon. But the disease can still come, and several factors can provoke it:

• Long absence of qualified medical care.
• Impaired immunization.
• Self-completed period of vaccination earlier than prescribed.

Most often, the patient's death is caused by ignorance of what needs to be done immediately after the bite of the animal, and negligent attitude towards one's health. Most people just do not pay attention to the bite - the wound was treated, well, well. They do not even suspect that an ordinary shallow wound (at first glance) can cause a fatal illness, which will not be cured in a couple of days.

Such a disease as rabies (the incubation period in humans may have a different duration depending on the location of the bite) is very dangerous, and only an appeal to the doctor immediately after an animal attack and vaccination can save from death. But what signs should still make a person sound an alarm?

The first manifestations of rabies in humans

After the incubation period is over, and the virus has already multiplied enough in the body, you can see the first manifestations of the disease. It is characterized by such symptoms:

• The patient is very worried about the wound. The site of the bite hurts, pulls, itches, and if a scar appears, it often swells and inflames more often.
• The body temperature rises and keeps at a level of 37 degrees.
• There is a strong headache, general weakness, nausea and even vomiting.

• If the wound is in the face area, then hallucinations may appear.
• There is a depressive state, anxiety, and maybe even irritability.

But it is worth remembering that there is rabies in several stages, and the symptoms in each of them are very different.

The incubation period

Must have rabies incubation period in humans. Symptoms at this time are not yet evident. This stage proceeds without signs. It can last up to three months, although there have been cases when the incubation period for people has dragged on for many years, but most of the time it does not exceed 12 months. Most patients because of the length of time sometimes even can not remember who and when they were bitten.

If the victim is bitten in the head or neck, then the person does not immediately exhibit rabies in the symptoms: the incubation period may be just over a month and a half. A person bitten into a hand may not suspect anything wrong for much longer. And the further course of the disease can be divided into several basic stages.

Basic stages of rabies

After the virus enters the human body begins, if we talk about rabies, the incubation period in humans. The stages of the disease have different, they can rapidly replace each other and differ in their symptoms:

1. The prodromal period. At this time, the rabies virus enters the central nervous system. This stage lasts from 2 to 10 days. At this time, the first signs of the virus appear: itching, soreness at the site of the bite. These symptoms can be observed first, but there are also others:

• General malaise;
• Severe weight loss;
• headache;
• fever;
• nausea;
• An intestinal disorder;
• sense of anxiety;
• insomnia;
• depression.

2. Stage of excitement. During her illness, the entire CNS is already affected. Very pronounced at this time rabies in humans symptoms. The incubation period is long over, and all signs of a fatal illness are evident. Symptoms are very marked cramps, the patient can die immediately, as soon as this stage of the disease begins, or its manifestations will lead to death.

Violent and paralytic rabies often develop during the second stage of the disease. During this period, patients rapidly develop hyperactivity, anxiety, hallucinations. After a day all these symptoms will be accompanied by flashes of great anxiety. Patients become so aggressive that they begin to rush at people, tear their clothes and beat their heads against the wall. Some may have seizures (intense enough), and at one "perfect" moment, such an attack ends in paralysis.

3. The stage of paralysis. Paralyzed movements of the tongue, eye muscles, the temperature rises to 40 degrees, the pressure drops, and the heart begins to contract faster. The duration of this stage is different for all patients, but ends, as a rule, death on the background of damage to the cardiovascular and respiratory centers.

4. Death. It is very important to accurately determine when the brain of a person who has become rabies is dead. This can be done by biopsy or by determining the absence of blood flow. Very often many people mistake some neurological symptoms for brain death.

Diagnosis of rabies in humans

This is another important issue that should be discussed in the framework of the topic "Rabies: the incubation period in humans."

Diagnosis should be carried out as soon as possible. First of all, it is determined when a person was bitten, whether the saliva of the animal was wounded. Clinical manifestations are mostly monotonous. The number of lymphocytes increases in the blood, but there are no eosinophils. The smear-imprint, which is taken from the surface of the cornea, indicates the presence of an antigen produced for an infection that has fallen into the human body.

Treatment of rabies

If the patient has the first signs of rabies, he is placed in the infectious department. Conduct therapy to alleviate the symptoms, while also using supportive treatment. Painkillers are prescribed, anticonvulsants, if necessary, somnolent, use parenteral nutrition, as well as drugs that help to remove all the symptoms of rabies.

The maximum effective treatment for this pathology has not yet been invented. The only thing that can protect and prevent the development of such an unpleasant scenario as rabies, incubation period in humans, post-exposure vaccine. This is the best method of prevention.

Prevention of disease

Only vaccination will protect a person from a rabies virus. The preventive course of vaccinations is mandatory for those who are directly connected with the risk of infection by the nature of their activities.

All animals that have bitten a person or behave too aggressively must be urgently taken to the veterinarian to conduct a survey and sent to the quarantine zone for 10 days. If during this time the animal did not die, there is a possibility that he does not have rabies. The incubation period in humans, (prevention Is very important!) Differs in duration from that of animals, so it is possible to make a mistake with the diagnosis.

If suddenly an animal bites a person, then it is necessary to treat the wound. The area of the bite is cleaned with a soapy 20% solution. If the wound is too deep, then in this case, rinsing is done with a catheter, so that the water jet as deeply as possible gets inside. In no case can you stitches or cauterize it.

When should I not be vaccinated?

Urgent vaccine is administered to a person in the presence of such symptoms:

• Bites, scratches, saliva on the open wound or mucous from animals that are infected with the rabies virus.
• Wounding by objects on which the saliva or brain of an infected animal may be present.
• Bites through clothing or in cases where it has been damaged by the teeth of an animal.
• If the bitten animal died within a few days after the bite.
• Bites of wild animals.
• Damage to the skin by a person infected with a rabies virus.

So, let us return to the question of injections, because it is not enough just to know how rabies show themselves, the incubation period in people.

The postcontact vaccine is administered immediately in a hospital or outpatient. A person can not be vaccinated if he was bitten by a pet, a bite was not applied to the neck, face or hands, if it was once. When a dangerous place is injured, the victim is given three vaccinations. This is necessary even if the bite was caused by a domestic pet, since it can be a carrier of the rabies virus, and a person will manifest an ailment, and the animal will not.

For any animal that bites a person, you must necessarily track 10 or even 14 days, and if there are first signs of rabies, urgently seek vaccination.

Conclusion

As it became clear from the above, it is better to get a vaccination against rabies than to allow the development of the disease, because the first symptoms can not immediately manifest, and the further development of the infection can lead to serious consequences. Today, not yet invented such a tool that would completely cure of rabies. Treatment is carried out only with drugs that relieve symptoms and remove them. If you do not have time to get vaccinated in time, then rabies in most cases leads to a fatal outcome.