The first symptoms of rabies, called prodrome, may be like the flu, including weakness, discomfort, fever, or headache. There also may be discomfort, prickling, or an itching sensation at the site of the bite. These symptoms may last for several days.
At first, there's a tingling, prickling, or itching feeling around the bite area. A person also might have flu-like symptoms such as a fever, headache, muscle aches, loss of appetite, nausea, and tiredness. After a few days, neurological symptoms develop, including: irritability or aggressiveness.
Initial symptoms of rabies include generic signs like fever, pain and unusual or unexplained tingling, pricking, or burning sensations at the wound site. As the virus moves to the central nervous system, progressive and fatal inflammation of the brain and spinal cord develops.
Symptoms of rabies usually take 3 to 12 weeks to appear, but they can appear after a few days or not for several months or years. Symptoms include: numbness or tingling where you were bitten or scratched. seeing things that are not there (hallucinations)
Once a rabies infection is established, there's no effective treatment. Though a small number of people have survived rabies, the disease usually causes death. For that reason, if you think you've been exposed to rabies, you must get a series of shots to prevent the infection from taking hold.
There is no time limit regarding the administration of PEP after an exposure. In this case it is still appropriate to initiate PEP. Administration of both human rabies immune globulin (HRIG) and four doses of rabies vaccine is recommended regardless of the time elapsed since the exposure.
Always consult with local and state public health officials before collecting samples for human rabies diagnosis. Rabies is a severe, acute disease that typically leads to death within four weeks of symptom onset.
It was developed and named by Dr. Rodney Willoughby, Jr. after its first successful use in 2004 on Jeanna Giese, a Wisconsin teenager who became the first person ever to survive symptomatic rabies without a prophylactic vaccine. Giese was bitten by a bat.
If left untreated, rabies is nearly always fatal. Rabies is an acute viral infection is transmitted to humans by a bite or by the exposure of broken skin to an infected animal's saliva. Immunization given early (preferably within 24 hours but certainly within 72 hours) can usually prevent the disease.
Rabies symptoms appear when the rabies virus reaches the brain or spinal cord, usually 30 to 50 days after a person is bitten. However, this interval can vary from 10 days to more than a year. The closer the bite to the brain (for example, on the face), the more quickly symptoms appear.
A diagnosis of rabies can be made after detection of rabies virus from any part of the affected brain, but to rule out rabies, the test must include a full cross-section of tissue from both the brain stem and cerebellum. Rabies testing requires that the animal be euthanized.
Midwestern United States
The most widely distributed reservoir of rabies in the United States, however, and the source of most human cases in the U.S., are bats. All five of the human rabies cases in the Midwest from 2009 to 2018 were identified genetically as strains of rabies from bats.
Most people who have been bitten by a bat report a stinging or needle prick sensation. However, bat bites may not be noticed, especially if someone is asleep, and bat bites may leave little or no evidence of a wound or puncture.
No, not if the dog is properly vaccinated against rabies and the efficacy of the vaccine is confirmed by laboratory evidence. Otherwise an appropriate post-exposure prophylaxis (PEP) should be given.
Sometimes the saliva will drool onto you, and you could have a minor open cut. Or sometimes a bat will lick on the skin and, again, transmit the virus that way." Jason Howland: Dr. Poland says that's why if you wake up and find a bat in the room, you should get the rabies vaccine.
There's no approved treatment for rabies once you have symptoms. If you've been exposed to rabies (were bitten by or been in contact with an infected animal), contact a healthcare provider as soon as possible. Clean the wound gently but thoroughly with soap and water.
The CDC offers a great handout you can give to patients to educate them about the rabies vaccine and also remind yourself of the rabies vaccine schedule. Primary care clinics and urgent care clinics do not offer the rabies vaccine; patients must go to their local emergency department or health department.
Even if you have been bitten a few days, or weeks ago, It is never too late to start. Rabies virus can incubate for several years before it causes symptoms. If you wait until you get symptoms, it may be too late – there is no treatment for established rabies … rabies is fatal.
Infection with rabies virus causes encephalitis in humans that has a case fatality rate of almost 100%. This inability to resolve infection is surprising since both pre-exposure vaccination and, if given promptly, post-exposure vaccination is highly effective at preventing encephalitic disease.
She is the first person on record to survive rabies without getting the vaccine. Local media has covered her story extensively, including when she graduated from high school and when she became a mother. Today, she works at the Children's Museum of Fond du Lac and is the proud mother of three children.
People used to call rabies hydrophobia because it appears to cause a fear of water. The reason is that the infection causes intense spasms in the throat when a person tries to swallow. Even the thought of swallowing water can cause spasms, making it appear that the individual is afraid of water.
You can live for several weeks or months without symptoms after being exposed to rabies. Once the virus has moved to your central nervous system (brain and spinal cord), rabies causes death within a few days. That's why early medical care is so important.
Other animals, such as birds, chickens, snakes, fish, turtles, lizards and insects, never get rabies. In Indiana, bats are the most common species to test positive for rabies. In 2024, skunk-variant rabies was detected in southeastern Indiana for the first time in 20 years.
Rabies symptoms in people
As the disease progresses, the person can experience delirium, abnormal behaviour, and hallucinations, as well as the infamous hydrophobia and foaming at the mouth (related to the paralysis of swallowing muscles).