Rabies clinical symptoms

Written by Xiong Hong Hai
Infectious Disease
Updated on June 08, 2025
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Rabies presents with typical symptoms that usually appear two to four days before the onset, including low-grade fever, general discomfort, muscle soreness, weakness, fatigue, and loss of appetite. Some individuals may also experience irrational fear, anxiety, agitation, irritability, hyper-sensitivity, insomnia, or depression. The bitten area may also exhibit symptoms of nerve pain, numbness, itching, or a sensation similar to an ant bite. Once rabies onset occurs, it generally leads to death, and it is rare for individuals to survive more than ten days after the disease manifests.

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Written by Xiong Hong Hai
Infectious Disease
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Rabies is transmitted through what?

Rabies is actually a relatively rare disease, but it is a very dangerous one with a 100% fatality rate once infected. In clinical practice, most cases of rabies are due to not being vaccinated after being bitten by a rabid dog. There are also frequent occurrences after being bitten or scratched by a cat without vaccination against rabies. Additionally, there is a risk of infection from bat bites as well. Rabies cannot be treated, and the main approach is prevention. There have been no cases of transmission from human to human, and it can be prevented through rabies vaccination.

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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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Does rabies transmit through saliva?

Rabies virus is primarily found in the saliva of dogs during the symptomatic phase, the saliva of cats during the symptomatic phase, and in the bodies of bats. There is a high concentration of rabies virus in the saliva of dogs during the symptomatic phase. Therefore, if one is bitten by a rabid dog, there is a significant risk of infection. It is necessary to promptly block and clean the wound, vaccinate against rabies, and administer rabies immunoglobulin injections locally at the wound site.

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Written by Xiong Hong Hai
Infectious Disease
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rabies incubation period

The incubation period for rabies is one to three months, and it is rare for it to exceed one year. The length of the incubation period for rabies varies, the shortest being about five days and the longest can reach up to eight years, with an average incubation period of one to three months. Cases exceeding one year account for about 2%-3%. The length of the incubation period for rabies is closely related to several factors including the virulence of the virus, and the nerve distribution at the site of entry. The more viruses there are, the stronger their virulence, and the richer the nerve supply at the entry site, especially closer to the central nervous system, the shorter the incubation period.

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Written by Xiong Hong Hai
Infectious Disease
42sec home-news-image

Rabies clinical symptoms

Rabies presents with typical symptoms that usually appear two to four days before the onset, including low-grade fever, general discomfort, muscle soreness, weakness, fatigue, and loss of appetite. Some individuals may also experience irrational fear, anxiety, agitation, irritability, hyper-sensitivity, insomnia, or depression. The bitten area may also exhibit symptoms of nerve pain, numbness, itching, or a sensation similar to an ant bite. Once rabies onset occurs, it generally leads to death, and it is rare for individuals to survive more than ten days after the disease manifests.