Rabies

Rabies

What is Rabies? Who gets Rabies? Rabies is a viral disease of humans and other mammals. It is most common in carnivores. The word rabies comes from the word "hydrophobia", fear of water. Rabies is a potentially deadly disease.

There are many things you can do to prevent yourself from meeting rabies. The most important thing to do, is to be certain your pets have updated vaccinations. Your pets can first get their vaccinations when they are three months old. After that booster vaccinations must be given every one to three years according to your state and city laws. It also depends on the type of vaccination. Most people associate rabies with dogs, cats, raccoons, skunks, wolves, etc. The most common animals to have rabies are dogs, cats, and raccoons.

Rabies cases in cats have outnumbered all other domestic animals every year since 1988. There was fifty-three percents increase in cat rabies between 1991-

1992. Most of the cases with cats have been unvaccinated strays.

Even if your pets do not go outside, they should still be vaccinated.

You cannot tell if you pet will accidentally get out or an infected animal will get in. Avoid close contact with any wild animal. Never feed, handle, pet, or take any wild animals in. Rabid animals will usually act in an abnormal way, have a foamy saliva around the mouth, and show a loss of hair or fur. If the animal is nocturnal, it may be out during the day. Rabid animals are usually very outgoing and aggressive.

To keep wildlife away from your home avoid leaving pet food outside, and keep the lids on trash cans secure, or store them inside a garage or shed. You can prevent wildlife from your entering you home by sealing holes and screening chimneys. If a wild animal does get in, do not touch it. Call your local animal-control officer or humane society and let them remove it.

The rabies virus can be transmitted in three different ways. These are through saliva, the bite of an infected animal, and by contact through the mucus membranes, or breaks in the skin.

Symptoms develop in ten to fifty days after exposure to this virus.

Symptoms in humans usually begin with depression, restlessness, fatigue, and a fever. This is followed by a period of excitability, excessive salivation, and convulsions, especially in throat spasms. The victim is unable to drink although he or she is extremely thirsty. Death from paralysis and suffocation follows within ten days. Once the symptoms of rabies have appeared, there is no possible treatment for the disease.