Rabies... and by the way...

Dec 09, 2005 15:50

Symptoms usually develop between 20 and 60 days after exposure. Rabid animals may become aggressive, combative, and highly sensitive to touch and other kinds of stimulation. And they can be vicious. This is the "furious" form of rabies, the kind traditionally associated with mad dogs.

There is also a "dumb" form of the disease in which the animal is lethargic, weak in one or more limbs, and unable to raise its head or make sounds because its throat and neck muscles are paralyzed. In both kinds of animal rabies, death occurs a few days after symptoms appear, usually from respiratory failure.

In humans, the course is similar. After a symptom-free incubation period that ranges from 10 days to a year or longer (the average is 30 to 50 days), the patient complains of malaise, loss of appetite, fatigue, headache, and fever. Over half of all patients have pain (sometimes itching) or numbness at the site of exposure. They may complain of insomnia or depression.

Two to 10 days later, signs of nervous system damage appear, hyperactivity and hypersensitivity, disorientation, hallucinations, seizures, and paralysis. Death may be sudden, due to cardiac or respiratory arrest, or follow a period of coma that can last for months with the aid of life-support measures.

Great, going by the symptoms here I have been rabid the last 10 years... So THATS whats been wrong... I guess I really WONT know unless I start foaming and having a fear of showers.. oh wait I ALREADY am terrified of showers... hmmm... foaming it is then. . .
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