rabies

Rabies is an acute infectious disease caused by rabies virus, which affects people and animals, especially carnivores such as dogs, wolves and cats. People are infected by the bite of sick animals, and their clinical manifestations are unique fear of water and wind, pharyngeal muscle spasm and progressive paralysis. Because the symptoms of water phobia are more prominent, this disease is also called water phobia.

It is a serious acute infectious disease mainly transmitted to people by rabies virus through animals. The main source of infection is sick dogs, followed by sick cats and sick wolves. The pathogenic factors are related to the bite site, degree of trauma, wound treatment and whether to inject vaccine.

2 Clinical manifestations

The incubation period varies, mostly within 3 months. The incubation period is related to age (shorter children), wound location (head and face bites occur earlier), wound depth, the number and virulence of invasive viruses and other factors. Others such as atelectasis, trauma, cold, overwork, etc. , may make the disease happen in advance. Typical clinical manifestations can be divided into the following three stages:

1. Precursor period or intrusive period

Before the excited state appeared, most patients had low fever, loss of appetite, nausea, headache, burnout and general malaise. This is like a "cold"; Then there is fear and anxiety, sensitivity to sound, light, wind, pain and so on. There is also a feeling of tightness in the throat. The early symptoms with diagnostic significance are sensory abnormalities in the wound and its vicinity, such as numbness, itching, pain, ant walking sensation, etc., which are caused by stimulating neurons during virus reproduction and last for 2 ~ 4 days.

2. Excitement period

The patient gradually entered a state of high excitement, showing extreme terror, fear of water, fear of wind, paroxysmal pharyngeal muscle spasm, dyspnea, difficulty in defecation, sweating and salivation.

3. Deactivation period

The spasm stopped and the patient gradually became quiet, but he had delayed paralysis, especially limb paralysis. Eye muscles, facial muscles and masticatory muscles can also be involved, showing strabismus, eye movement disorder, mandibular prolapse, mouth opening and mouth closing, facial expression loss and so on.

The whole course of rabies generally does not exceed 6 days, and occasionally exceeds 10 days. In addition, there are "paralysis type" or "static type" characterized by paralysis, also known as dumb rabies. This kind of patients have no excitement period and fear of water, but start with high fever, headache, vomiting and biting pain, and then appear weakness of limbs, abdominal distension, ataxia, muscle paralysis, incontinence and so on. The course of the disease was as long as 10 days, and eventually he died of respiratory muscle paralysis and bulbar palsy. Rabies caused by vampire bat bites often belong to this type.