Symptoms of rabies

Written by Xiong Hong Hai
Infectious Disease
Updated on October 20, 2024
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Rabies is an extremely dangerous and fatal disease. Once infected, it leads to a 100% fatality rate. When rabies presents its more typical symptoms, particularly during the furious phase, it manifests significant neurological symptoms such as hallucinations, convulsive seizures, bizarre behavior, hyperactivity, and rigid neck muscles. Symptoms show as extreme fear, with a pronounced fear of water, light, and wind, and include uncontrollable spasms of the throat muscles making swallowing difficult. It progresses to opisthotonus and ultimately results in coma and death.

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Written by Xiong Hong Hai
Infectious Disease
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Can rabies be contagious?

Rabies is contagious and is primarily transmitted through bites from infected dogs, cats, or bats. During the onset of the disease, the saliva of rabid dogs contains a high concentration of the rabies virus. Similarly, the saliva of cats in the onset phase also contains a large amount of the rabies virus. If these rabies viruses enter the human body, there is a significant risk of infection. Currently, transmission of rabies from one person to another is extremely rare; it is mainly transmitted to humans through bites from infected animals during their symptomatic phase.

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Written by Xiong Hong Hai
Infectious Disease
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Is rabies contagious?

Rabies is contagious; in fact, most cases of rabies result from being bitten by rabid dogs, cats showing symptoms of the disease, or bats carrying the rabies virus. There have been no reports of transmission from human to human. Rabies is a fatal disease, with a 100% mortality rate once infected. The saliva of dogs showing symptoms contains a high concentration of the virus. If one is bitten and does not receive timely prevention and intervention, there is a high likelihood of contracting the infection.

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Written by Xiong Hong Hai
Infectious Disease
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Does rabies cause coughing?

Rabies generally does not cause severe coughing, but in the late stages of the disease, coughing can occur. Eventually, due to spasms and paralysis of the respiratory muscles, some sputum cannot be expelled, which stimulates the respiratory tract to produce more secretions, possibly leading to frequent coughing. The main symptoms of rabies are a distinct fear and restlessness towards water, light, and wind. Rabies ultimately leads to death due to respiratory muscle failure and paralysis of the respiratory system.

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Written by Xiong Hong Hai
Infectious Disease
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Rabies fear of water refers to hydrophobia, a symptom of rabies characterized by a fear or panic attack when attempting to drink water or when presented with liquids.

Patients with rabies are indeed very afraid of water. When trying to drink water, or even when seeing water or hearing the word "water," they experience uncontrollable spasms in the throat muscles and difficulty swallowing. Although they are very thirsty, they dare not drink water. In addition to being afraid of water, they are also afraid of bright lights, noise, and wind. These stimuli can cause whole-body spasms and pain, lead to opisthotonos, excessive nervous excitement, and eventually result in death due to coma.

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Written by Xiong Hong Hai
Infectious Disease
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Rabies Symptoms

Rabies, if symptoms appear, often leads to panic, hallucinations, restlessness, fear of water, fear of light, fear of wind, fear of noise, and even results in opisthotonos among other related symptoms. Rabies is a fatal disease, and once symptoms develop, survival rarely exceeds two weeks, with most cases resulting in death within three to five days. In terms of treatment, symptomatic management and isolation are primarily conducted. Therefore, it is crucial to take preventive measures against rabies.