Why do animals get rabies? How is rabies transmitted from a cat? The most likely methods of infection

In this article I will talk in detail about the methods of rabies infection, how it can be transmitted, treatment in dogs and cats, and its incubation period. And how can it be treated. I will also focus on common misconceptions and situations in which transmission of the virus is impossible.

How can rabies be transmitted?

Rabies is an infectious disease.

Development is provoked by the Rabies virus.

In medicine it is also called hydrophobia or hydrophobia. As a result of the penetration of the virus, inflammation of the membranes of the brain develops in humans and animals.

The main carriers include foxes, hedgehogs, raccoons, badgers, wolves, rats and other wild animals. Distribution is also possible via livestock.

The viral component is contained in the patient’s saliva. Penetration into the blood occurs during a bite with mechanical damage epidermis.

TO possible methods transmission of diseases from animals to humans includes:

penetration of the salivary fluid of an infected person onto the mucous membranes of the mouth, respiratory system, vision, open wounds;
scratches caused by the claws of infected animals;
cutting or cleaning the carcass of an infected animal without personal protective equipment (virus for a long time does not die after the death of the animal and can penetrate through scratches or wounds to a healthy person).

According to medical data, cases of transmission are known by airborne droplets, during pregnancy through the placenta.

Under the microscope rabies virus

Several factors have a significant impact on the likelihood of infection.

Localization of the bite. Dangerous areas include the neck, face, and head. The risk of infection is lower when biting the extremities.
Features of the bite. If exposed skin is affected, the likelihood of transmission is higher than with a bite through clothing.
Kind of animal. A bite from a large animal (especially a wolf) is more dangerous than an attack from a small animal (rodent).

It is transmitted between animals through a direct attack with a bite.

Transmission of the virus from humans

According to numerous studies, infection from infected person almost impossible. This fact is due to the virus content in saliva. Rabies is not transmitted through the air, blood, or simple contact.

To become infected, the patient must not only attack and bite, but also damage upper layer epidermis.

Transmission is also possible when saliva comes into contact with damaged human skin. Science knows of a single case of infection during a cornea transplant from an infected person to a healthy patient.

Rabies is caused in warm-blooded animals by a virus that enters the body when bitten by a sick animal.

In practice, such cases are rare. For this reason, it is believed that interaction with sick people does not pose an epidemiological danger. A similar situation is with pets that have been in contact with sick people. A pet can become infected from a person only in the event of a bite with drooling.

IN natural conditions The virus is not persistent and dies within half an hour.

How not to get infected

There are a number of situations in which the risk of transmitting the virus is minimized.

Rabies cannot be transmitted if:

penetration of salivary fluid of an infected person onto intact skin;
biting the skin without damaging the skin using protected clothing;
scratching with bird claws;
eating food from an infected animal after heat treatment;
bite from a vaccinated pet.

People and animals who have been in contact with the infected person are vaccinated

It is important that the vaccination period is no more than 1 year, and there are no signs of the disease. In such a situation, the pet is monitored. If signs of the disease appear, the victim is vaccinated. The risk of infection is also reduced by bites in non-hazardous areas.

In medical circles, the manic fear of rabies is called lysophobia.

Dog incubation period

Rabies is viral disease associated with brain inflammation.

The incubation period of the disease directly depends on:

size of the infected person;
location and depth of the bite;
the health status of the bitten person.

How smaller sizes animal, the faster signs of rabies appear.

In children, the disease develops in more short time compared to adults. The development of the virus occurs faster in the case of damage to the neck, face, and head. Accordingly, for bites of the extremities incubation period increases.

The incubation period for human infection is up to 3 months. Wounds in the head area significantly accelerate the development of the disease. Cases have been recorded where symptoms appeared within a week after the attack. If the extremities are affected, the virus may not manifest itself for up to 1 year. There have been cases where the disease entered the active stage after 2-3 years.

On this moment It is known that the virus remains dormant for 6 years. It was recorded in an emigrant who arrived in America from the Philippines.

The incubation period can be short (several days), but it can be quite long - several months

In animals, the timing of the development of the disease differs slightly from that in humans. The incubation period ranges from 10 to 21 days. With shallow lesions and good immunity of adults, symptoms appear after 5-9 months.

Rabies is a virus for which treatment is powerless.

Only relief of the patient's condition is possible. The disease is transmitted when the epidermis is injured and salivary fluid penetrates the surface of the wound. In other cases, the likelihood of spread is minimal. Professional help and vaccination can prevent the development of the disease.

Rabies is a dangerous disease caused by the Neuroryctes rabid virus. The main route of transmission is through the saliva of an infected animal. A way to cure rabies has not been found to date. The only way prevent the spread of the virus - vaccination. To decide whether animals that live in an apartment need vaccination, owners need to know whether domestic cat get rabies if she never goes outside, and how does infection occur.

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Incubation period

Rabies (hydrophobia, hydrophobia) is an inflammation of the brain caused by a specific virus.

The length of the incubation period of the disease depends on the size of the animal and the location where the bite was made. Since the rabies virus infects the brain, the time before the first symptoms appear directly depends on the speed at which the virus passes through the nerve trunks and perineural space in the central nervous system. The disease will manifest itself most quickly if infection occurs through a wound on the head, face, neck, hands (front paws). The longest incubation period is for bites on the legs (in animals - the hind legs).

The incubation period of the disease is:

1. In animals - from five days to six months. On average, one to two months pass from infection to the appearance of the first symptoms. Cases of incubation periods exceeding one year have been extremely rarely recorded.
2. In humans - from one month to a year. Cases of the disease manifesting itself even three years after the bite have been described.

The disease will manifest itself most quickly in a kitten or puppy. Causes:

small sizes;
weak immunity;
high concentration of virus per kg of body weight.

Periods of disease development

In animals, there are three stages of disease development:

1. Prodromal (early) period. Characterized by a slight increase in body temperature. The animal's behavior changes, it becomes lethargic, inactive, or restless and aggressive. Lasts early period from one to three days.
2. The period of height (aggression). Lasts from 1 to 4 days. The animal reacts sharply to external stimuli: loud sounds, light. His salivation increases and hydrophobia develops: the sounds of pouring water and attempts to drink cause spasms and convulsions. The animal refuses food, or, conversely, eats everything, even objects not intended for food. The animal shows aggression, rushes at people or becomes lethargic and tries to hide. During this period, wild animals exhibit behavior that is unusual for them and come close to humans.
3. Paralysis. The final stage lasts from one to three days. The animal gradually becomes paralyzed. The stage ends in death due to paralysis of the respiratory muscles.

In rare cases, some stages may be skipped. For example, when paralytic form There are no early and aggressive periods of rabies. In such cases clinical picture becomes lubricated, making diagnosis difficult.

Many wild animals, having contracted rabies, show a previously unusual craving for humans: they come close to people and can take food from their hands. Foxes are especially dangerous. You should remember this and be careful.

Where is the virus found?

The hydrophobia virus is found in large quantities in the saliva of an infected animal and in the brain. It appears in saliva three to ten days before the first symptoms appear. A ten-day quarantine for an animal suspected of rabies is based on this fact.

The bodies of dead rabid animals are dangerous. The virus remains viable in their brain for a long time. The risk is especially high at low ambient temperatures. In winter, at sub-zero temperatures, the pathogen is “preserved” and remains dangerous for a long time.

Others biological fluids- blood, tears, urine, and feces of an infected animal do not contain the virus.

Ways of transmission of rabies

Hydrophobia is transmitted to humans or other animals if the virus enters damaged skin or mucous membranes.

Rabiologists identify three main routes of infection:
bite of an infected animal;
salivation of damaged skin, wounds, mucous membranes;

Rabies can be transmitted to a person through a scratch if the cat licked its paw shortly before. This route of transmission is unusual for dogs. Therefore, if a cat scratches, the person will need the same course of vaccinations as for the bite.

IN currently There is debate among scientists about the likelihood of transmission of the virus during organ transplantation. Too little material has yet been accumulated to draw precise conclusions.

Of the wild animals, foxes and wolves are most likely to suffer from rabies, and of domestic animals, dogs and cats are the most likely to suffer from rabies. The greatest danger is stray dogs and the foxes coming to settlements in the spring-summer season.

Much less often, small animals and rodents carry rabies: mice, rats, ferrets, gophers and others. This is due to the fact that after being bitten by a larger predator, the animal almost always dies before it can become a carrier of the virus. But it is impossible to completely exclude the possibility of contracting hydrophobia from them.

The likelihood of infection depends on many factors:

bite sites;
the type of animal that bit;
the amount of virus ingested;
the victim's immunity status.

Can a domestic cat get rabies?

A pet that never leaves the house is much less likely to become infected with rabies than its free-roaming counterparts. But it still exists. The most dangerous situations:

1. Bite or salivation by an infected animal that has entered the house. Most often these are mice or rats. The likelihood increases in the private sector. Although residents of high-rise buildings are not protected from uninvited guests.
2. Catching and eating wild infected animals by domestic animals. If a cat catches and eats a rabid mouse, the virus in its brain will be dangerous. There may be sores in the cat's mouth. Mucous membranes are also a vulnerable place.

Probability of infection through foreign objects who may have been in contact with a sick animal is minimal. Rabiologists and microbiologists accept it as equal to zero. Therefore, there is no need to be afraid of bringing rabies on shoes and other items from the street.

Although the likelihood of contracting hydrophobia through outdoor shoes is minimal, many others are transmitted this way dangerous diseases. domestic cat, having smelled boots or shoes, you risk getting sick with calcivirosis or panleukopenia brought on them. These infections are extremely dangerous for cats.

Rabies virus in the external environment

The virus that causes rabies is very unstable and dies quickly in external environment. The following table shows the factors that neutralize it and the time of inactivation of the virus when exposed to them.

At low temperatures the virus remains active for a long time. Exchange processes slow down, and the pathogen is preserved. At 4 degrees below zero, the virus will be active for several months. If the test material is frozen at -20 degrees, virulence will remain even after five years. Substances such as iodine, phenol, and antibiotics do not destroy dangerous pathogens.

In the brain of an animal that has died from rabies, the virus remains active from several days to three months. It is especially dangerous in cold period of the year. Therefore, you should not allow your pets to pick up foreign objects from the ground while walking.

Diagnostics

Rabies can be confirmed by a section of the brain only in a specially equipped laboratory. To do this, the suspicious animal is killed.

It is impossible to detect the virus in a living animal using a blood or urine test. Therefore, cats that have bitten a person or other animal are usually quarantined first. They sit in isolated cages for 10 days. Access to them is prohibited to everyone except employees who feed the animals and clean up after them, observing all safety precautions. If after 10 days signs of hydrophobia do not appear, it means that the animal was healthy at the time of the bite, and the person does not need vaccination.

Several years ago it was developed new way diagnostics: taking an imprint from the cornea of the eye and detecting an antigen to the rabies virus on it. The method is already being used, but the research has not yet been completed. Therefore, confirmation using the first method is almost always required.

Treatment

To date, no treatment for rabies has been developed. If symptoms of the disease occur, then in one hundred percent of cases it will end in death.

In world practice, several cases of human cures from rabies have been recorded. But, since laboratory research were not carried out, it is not known for certain whether it was hydrophobia. Therefore, you cannot rely on this knowledge.

The only way to prevent the development of the disease is to get vaccinated as soon as possible.

Prevention

To protect your pet from fatal disease, it is better to vaccinate it in advance. A kitten can start receiving vaccinations from the age of three months. The second vaccine is given when the cat is one year old. Then revaccination should be carried out annually. Timely vaccination will reliably protect your pet from contracting a dangerous disease.

There is post-exposure prophylaxis for animals. The vaccine is given after suspicious contact that poses a risk of rabies. This way you can prevent the virus from entering the central nervous system.

In this case they do:

washing the wound immediately after contact with a soap solution for 10 minutes;
administration of rabies immunoglobulin;
introduction of a special vaccine.

Such post-exposure vaccines for animals have already been developed and used in the USA and many European countries. However, in our country it is extremely difficult and sometimes impossible to get them. Therefore, the most reliable way to prevent rabies in pets is annual preventive vaccination.

Modern science and medicine today are absolutely powerless in the fight for the lives of people infected with rabies. Since there is no medicine anywhere in the world that can resist this virus, and the number of cases of infection is not decreasing. More than 150 countries around the world are suffering from the effects of the rabies virus.

The statistics are disappointing: every year more than 50 thousand people die as a result of the disease. The virus mainly affects residents of Asian and African countries.

Children are most at risk of infection, because half of the registered cases of infection occur in young patients under 16 years of age. Children are the most trusting of animals and come into contact with them more often than adults, which leads to the most dire consequences. To prevent the disease, the population is immunized against rabies every year, which affects more than 10 million people.

Rabies is a viral infection that destroys nerve cells CNS. The disease occurs with pronounced symptoms nervous disorder(aggression, dementia) and ultimately leads to the death of the body.

The main causative agent of the disease is a virus that quietly penetrates the immune and nervous systems, rapidly spreads throughout the body and destroys various parts of the spinal cord and brain. As a result, many functions of the central nervous system fail, and the virus affects the nervous tissues of the body, mucous membranes, and the skin suffers.

Causes

The viral infection is transmitted from an infected four-legged animal to humans. This occurs after the bite of a wild infected animal. There is another option - transmission of rabies through a scratch or open wound/abrasion on the human body, when infected saliva of a four-legged animal gets onto the damaged area or open mucous membrane. Rabies carriers are not only wild animals. Livestock and domestic animals can also become infected from another animal. Most often, carriers of the virus are wild foxes, badgers, raccoons, hedgehogs, wolves, and rodents. Among domestic animals, the most affected are livestock, dogs and cats, which have free range and can encounter wild animals.

The speed of infection depends on many factors. For example, the location of the bite, its depth and the intensity of the animal’s salivation are taken into account. Considered especially dangerous lacerations on the face, head and hands upper limbs person.

There are cases of transmission of rabies from person to person. But they are exceptions to the rule rather than statements. The routes of transmission of infection are similar; infection occurs in the same way as in the case of animals - through saliva and open mucous membranes.

How not to become infected with an infectious disease

A person in a panic is prone to overestimate the situation and, in a state of panic and fear, rushes headlong to the hospital for rabies vaccination, even in cases where this is not required. Cases where there is no threat of rabies infection:

rabies cannot be transmitted if the animal’s saliva gets on an intact area of the skin and does not touch the mucous membranes;
scratch or other damage skin was caused by a bird;
during the attack, the animal did not even damage outer clothing, contact with the body was excluded;
consumed processed (boiled, fried) meat or boiled milk from infected cattle;
the bite was made by an animal that had been vaccinated within a year and had no obvious signs of the disease;
viral infection found exclusively in the animal's saliva. There is no infection in the urine, feces or blood.

There is such a thing as lysophobia - the fear of becoming infected with rabies. It's pretty rare disease and is treated using psychotherapeutic methods or hypnosis.

It is known how rabies is transmitted, but you need to know that if a pet is bitten, it is necessary to monitor it. If within a few days the animal begins to show signs of infection, it is necessary to immediately begin vaccinating the affected person. It is important to know how you can become infected with the virus and avoid similar situations, because in modern world there is no panacea for rabies.

Symptoms

The incubation period can last differently for each person, because its duration depends on the location of the bite and the depth of the lesion. If the area of the head or face is affected, this is approximately 15-20 days; if the foot or leg is bitten, this period can last up to a year, accompanied by unpleasant sensations. There have been cases around the world where dog rabies manifested itself only 2-3 years after the bite.

There are three periods of the disease: depression, agitation and paralysis.

The first period is depression. During this period, a person infected with rabies may feel a burning sensation and itching in previously affected areas. Sometimes it is possible to feel swelling and hyperemia in the area of the previous wound.

A person’s nervous system is depressed, he has no mood, loss of appetite and sleep, and anxiety states, panic, fear, apathy towards everything.

The next period is excitement. It can begin its action on the third day and manifest itself high temperature, over 37 degrees. In this case, various phobias may develop, for example, aerophobia or hydrophobia, heart rate may increase, blood pressure may increase, etc. The patient becomes aggressive, may behave inappropriately, rudely, salivation increases, and speech sometimes becomes slurred.

The most pronounced symptom is hydrophobia - constant thirst, in which a person cannot drink water due to spasms of the respiratory-swallowing system. In the future, spasms overcome the patient even in the absence of thoughts about water. Because of this, aggressiveness and anger are gaining even greater momentum.

Due to constant nervous tension, periods of excitement begin to increase and become more vivid. A person with rabies may lose clarity of consciousness, experience visual and auditory hallucinations. At the same time, be completely adequate between attacks and be aware of what is happening to him. This period can last about 3 days.

The paralytic period is the final one. During this period, the stage of excitement gives way to depression. The patient experiences apathy. The muscles of the body stop contracting involuntarily, and the spasm goes away. The body temperature rises sharply, the heart begins to contract faster, paralysis of the limbs and immobilization appear. Paralysis affects cardiovascular system, respiratory organs and death in this case are inevitable. You can extend the patient's life by several hours or days with the help of artificial ventilation lungs, but death will come in about a day or two.

Diagnosis of the disease

In order to correctly and quickly identify the diagnosis, it is necessary to take into account the following nuances:

detection of the site of an animal bite or scratch on a person;
presence of signs characteristic of rabies;
laboratory tests of the eye shell, in which the virus can be identified by an imprint of the surface of the eye shell.

To eliminate the risk of rabies infection, it is necessary to carry out vaccination on time, which prevents infection in 98% of cases, since this problem is very serious and leads to irreversible consequences - death.

Unfortunately, final confirmation of the diagnosis can only be after the death of the patient. This is carried out using the following means:

histological examination for the presence of Babes-Negri bodies in the body. The cerebral cortex, cerebellum and amnon horn are examined;
biological puncture. Brain cells of experimental rodents that receive a dose of intracerebral infection are being studied;
immunofluorescence test. Nerve tissues are examined salivary glands and brain cells for the presence of the rabies virus.

Treatment of the virus

When the first symptoms appear, you need urgent Care with hospitalization of the patient, because you can become infected with rabies immediately after being bitten.

Whether there is a effective methods treatment for this disease? No, there is symptomatic therapy to alleviate the patient’s condition and alleviate suffering.

People with the rabies virus should be placed in a warm room or ward, free from bright light and noise. An enema of morphine, diphenhydramine, aminazine or pantopon is promptly administered.

At severe cramps respiratory tract and the inability to independently inhale air, the patient is connected to an artificial lung ventilation system, which will prolong his life. Immunoglobulin if available clinical symptoms powerless in the fight against this disease.

Everyone wonders if rabies can be overcome. But in the history of medicine, there are only isolated cases of recovery without further consequences after a full course of immunization with vaccines. In other cases, the prognosis is disappointing - the person will face inevitable death.

Preventive measures

Primary prevention should consist not only of studying the question of whether it is possible to become infected with rabies from domestic animals and how people become infected among themselves. But it must also identify foci of infection and methods to combat them. It is necessary to monitor the health and proper care of pets, carry out their timely vaccinations, and help catch stray dogs.

All infected animals must be immediately killed and taken to the laboratory for study and research of biomaterial. It is especially important in cases where a person has suffered from this animal. When a bite or other damage to a person was noticed externally healthy dog, she is isolated in a special room for 10-14 days to monitor her behavior and exclude rabies infection.

For those who have constant contact with animals, vaccination is simply necessary, because infection can occur even while feeding the animal.

There is a division into specific and nonspecific methods of prevention. In the first case, various types of immunization are carried out using anti-rabies immunoglobulin and serum, as well as a special culture vaccine. All these methods must be used comprehensively, because this is the only way they will give an effective result.

Nonspecific prevention consists of aseptic treatment of wounds using soap solution, flow-through clean water and iodine. Do not injure the wound by excising the damaged edges. Treatment of the wound ends with covering the damage with a special anti-rabies powder based on globulin.

Features of vaccination

Treatment after the appearance of signs and first symptoms is no longer effective, so rabies can only be prevented in advance through prevention and vaccination.

Rabies vaccinations are indicated in the following cases:

attack by an obviously unhealthy animal with all signs of infection on exposed skin;
infection can be transmitted through injury by objects containing saliva of an infected animal;
scratches from an animal that died shortly after the incident for unknown reasons;
due to the bite of a rodent (these animals are often carriers of various types of infections);
contact with the saliva of an infected person, but only in cases where it gets on the mucous membrane or on an open wound;
rabies can be transmitted through sexual contact (oral sex).

Rabies vaccination can cause a number of side effects: redness, various rashes, weakness or lethargy, dyspeptic disorders, increased body temperature, headache. But all these possible consequences are incomparable with the consequences of infection.

Vaccination can be carried out on an outpatient basis or in a hospital, it all depends on the desire and degree of damage of the patient.

After the vaccine is administered, you need to limit yourself in certain things: alcoholic drinks must be excluded not only for the period of the vaccine, but also for up to six months after it.

Cats, like dogs, are among the group of animals most susceptible to the rabies virus, so the risk of encountering signs of rabies in a person after a cat scratch or bite is not so small. In a sense, a domestic animal is more dangerous than a wild one: if encounters with forest animals are extremely rare for humans, then a beloved cat enters any room, sleeps with its owner in the same bed, and it is difficult to suspect it of carrying a deadly disease.

How does a person become infected with rabies from a cat?

In infected animals, the rabies virus is detected in the saliva 8–10 days before the first symptoms appear. clinical signs. Considering that the incubation period can be quite long, owners may not be aware of the development of the disease and even exclude this possibility.

Whether a person can become infected with rabies from a cat depends on the characteristics of contact with a sick animal. They come in 3 categories:

I - touching, feeding animals, licking intact human skin by a cat - with such contact preventive measures not required;
II - compression open places skin when bitten, the appearance of scratches, abrasions;
III - bites, deep scratches, contact of cat saliva with damaged human skin or mucous membranes.

The most dangerous

The first category does not pose a threat to health, but the second and third are precisely the case when rabies in cats is transmitted to humans. They require immediate preventive measures, as they are considered particularly dangerous.

At the same time, we should not forget that the closer the bite is to the human brain - the goal of the virus’s journey through the body - the faster the disease can develop.

Extensive damage is also particularly dangerous, i.e. The harder the cat bites, the higher the risk of infection. The use of the vaccine is effective only before the first clinical signs appear, so if the hands and head are bitten, there is little time left for rescue.

How to determine if a cat has rabies

Suspicious signs are oddities in the behavior of the animal, unmotivated, that is, aggression not caused by human actions, and more obvious symptoms, described in detail in our article “Rabies in cats: symptoms and danger to humans.” Animals that are not vaccinated against rabies immediately come under suspicion.

In animals, an accurate diagnosis can only be made posthumously, after examining brain sections. The most humane way to eliminate rabies is quarantine: the animal is kept in a veterinary facility for 10–14 days. If a cat has rabies, the disease progresses to death.

Some health problems may have symptoms similar to rabies (for example, foreign body V oral cavity may cause severe drooling and an inability to close the cat's mouth), so it is very important to transport your pet to a veterinarian with extreme caution.

Does everyone get infected?

Of course, not all people bitten by animals become infected with rabies. Even if the virus is present, infection occurs only in 1/3 of cases. It's work related immune system, as well as the protective role of clothing and hair.

Even if you or your loved ones had category I-II contact with an unvaccinated cat, thoroughly wash the wound with running water and soap and go to the nearest emergency room. This should not be taken lightly: rabies is much more widespread than is commonly believed.

Rabies is an acute viral infection from the zoonotic group. She calls brightly severe symptoms defeats nervous system, and its development always leads to death. Animals are believed to be the main carriers. But many people are concerned about whether the rabies virus is transmitted from person to person. To understand this issue, we need to look at the infection a little closer.

Infection

The rabies virus can enter the body unnoticed. The starting point is the place through which the infection occurred. From there, the virus begins to spread, approaching the brain. In parallel with this, its cells actively multiply, increasing their efficiency. Every hour they rise higher, and the patient’s body experiences new problems. After some time, brain damage occurs and spinal cord, and also the central nervous system ceases to function fully.

Infection at points close to the head is especially dangerous. This is because the time required to reach the brain will be very limited. As a result, doctors may not have time to take all necessary measures to prevent the development of the virus in the body of the infected person, which will make death inevitable.

The main carriers of the virus are wild animals and livestock: foxes, wolves, hedgehogs, badgers, raccoons, rodents, sheep, cows, pigs, goats and some other species. You can also get infected from a cat or dog, and most of the diseases have been registered in the case of the latter. Everyone knows how rabies is transmitted from dogs to humans. This happens through a bite. They can also become infected from other animals.

The virus is contained in salivary glands, where it enters 1-7 days before the onset of the first symptoms, and spreads best when it enters the blood healthy body. That is why, after being bitten by a sick animal, you should not hesitate. Other routes of infection cannot be excluded:

Damage to the skin by the claws of a sick animal;
Contact of damaged skin with an object containing saliva from a sick animal;
Contact with saliva on the mucous membranes of the eyes, nose or mouth;
Cutting up the carcass of an animal with rabies;
Airborne (when in a cave with sick bats).

The virus can also be transmitted to the fetus from an infected mother during pregnancy or to people during transplantation. internal organs, but only isolated cases have been reported. Is rabies transmitted from person to person? Everyday life? Theoretically, you can become infected through a kiss if you healthy person there are wounds in the mouth. However, the probability of transmission of the virus from person to other people is so small that the vast majority of experts tend to consider it zero.

More than 50 thousand people die from rabies every year, and most cases of infection occur in the spring and summer months.

Symptoms

The incubation period for rabies infection lasts from 10 days to 3 months. There are rare cases where patients managed to live without any symptoms for a whole year. The exact rate at which the virus spreads depends on the method of infection, the depth of the bite or scratch if the person suffered one, the point of infection, the amount of saliva that enters the body, and the type of animal carrier. The disease itself, from the moment symptoms appear, can last from 5 to 12 days. Moreover, it occurs in three stages, each of which has special symptoms.

First stage

The duration of the first stage is from 1 to 3 days. At this time, the patient exhibits mild symptoms that can be confused with some other diseases. These include:

Unpleasant nagging pain at the wound site;
Inflammation and swelling if the damaged area of skin has already healed;
Stable body temperature from 37.0° to 37.3°C;
Weakness, nausea and vomiting, regular headaches;
Increased anxiety, unreasonable fear;
Irritability, apathy and depression;
Lack of appetite, deterioration in sleep quality, frequent nightmares;
Hallucinations (when bitten by an infectious animal in the head area).

After the first days in initial stage the patient's condition worsens, and rabies moves to the next level.

Second stage

The excitation stage is the second stage of virus development in the human body. It can accompany the patient for 2-3 days and, as a rule, is paroxysmal in nature. Therefore, in some cases it cannot be detected immediately. The following symptoms are characteristic of this stage:

Strong excitability, strong reaction to any events, excessive emotionality;
Aggressive behavior, shouting at others, frequent conflicts;
Rare and abrupt-convulsive breathing;
Increased heart rate, increased sweating, salivation;
Facial muscle spasms when exposed to bright light or loud sound;
Hydrophobia, spasms when trying to drink water, as well as at the sight or sound of it;
Dilation of the pupils, holding the gaze at one point, protrusion of the eyeballs.

Sometimes death occurs during an attack. If the manifestations stop, then the person again begins to behave adequately and returns to his business.

Third stage

The last stage lasts only one day. It is accompanied by the appearance of very serious symptoms and ends with the death of the patient. A person infected with rabies at this stage has the following symptoms:

Stopping the manifestation of seizures and hallucinations;
Emotional indifference, mental calm;
Impaired sensitivity of skin and muscle tissue;
Paralysis of muscles and some internal organs;
Increase in body temperature to 42°C;
Increasing frequency heart rate, lowering blood pressure.

A day after the start of the final stage, the patient’s heart or respiratory center is paralyzed, causing immediate death.

Rabies can have an atypical course, characterized by the absence of some symptoms or rapid progression, and death can sometimes occur even after the first day of illness.

First aid

When a person has reason to believe that they may have contracted rabies, they should immediately consult a doctor. But it is equally important to provide yourself with first aid, as well as take care of safety. This is especially true in cases where the victim has been bitten a pet, which became a carrier of a dangerous virus.

Immediately after the bite you need to do the following:

Call ambulance or choose the nearest one medical institution(emergency station).
Tie up your pet, isolating it from surrounding people and animals, or call the sanitary service through the rescue phone.
Wash the wound clean water using laundry soap trying to call heavy bleeding to remove the virus from the blood, and go to the hospital.
Once the doctor has taken all the necessary measures, you should definitely show your pet to a veterinarian when returning home.

You can identify rabies in pets yourself. However, this can only be done after the active development of the disease begins, and the carrier becomes infectious about a week before. Therefore, in some cases, you can catch the virus even from an apparently healthy pet. Nevertheless, the symptoms will help identify a guaranteed sick animal. These include:

Desire to chew or scratch where another animal has bitten you;
Dilated pupils, eating inedible objects;
Increased salivation, foam at the mouth and vomiting;
Severe hydrophobia (not experienced by everyone);
Aggressive behavior, attempts to run away from home.

Knowing exactly how people become infected with rabies will help many people protect themselves. If symptoms can be detected in a pet before direct contact with it, then it must be urgently transferred to veterinarians, taking special care during transportation, because any attack from him would be extremely dangerous. After confirming the diagnosis of the animal, you should throw away all its toys that may have saliva on them.

If a sick animal manages to bite a person, then under no circumstances should you treat the wound. alcohol solution, iodine or antiseptics, and it is strictly forbidden to drink alcoholic beverages.

Treatment

The doctor's first task is to carry out urgent diagnostics. In some cases, an examination and knowledge that the person was bitten by a stray or wild animal is sufficient. Sometimes blood may be taken from the victim to conduct a minimal test, or the lining of the eye may be examined. After this, treatment is prescribed. You need to start it right away, because... When the first symptoms appear, the probability of death is one hundred percent, even with the use of all drugs.

They begin to inject the patient special remedy“KOKAV” according to a certain scheme: 0 day, 3 day, 7 day, 14 day, 30 day and 90 day. The injection is given in the deltoid muscle, and in young children the vaccine is administered through the thigh. The dosage is only 1 ml. When the course of treatment is completed, the victim will develop immunity to rabies, which will last for one year.

Sometimes it is additionally necessary to use another method of treatment. To do this, the patient is injected with rabies immunoglobulin into the wound area or buttock. However, it is used in practice quite rarely, because its use is required only in particularly severe cases. Administration schedule: day 0, day 3, day 7, day 14 and day 28.

For the period of treatment and the next six months of life, patients are prohibited from drinking alcohol, overwork, visiting the bathhouse, and getting hypothermic. If you follow all the rules and take medications, you will soon be able to start living the same way as before.