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. The first vaccine against rabies was developed in France during the 1880's by Louis Pasteur. Rabies cases in humans have since become rare in the United States and other developed countries. This is because of the vaccination programs for domestic animals. People in high risk occupations such as veterinarians, forest-service, and health workers in developing countries are also often treated against the disease. In 1987 a less expensive, low-dose vaccine was introduced for a wider use by campers, travelers, etc. This is a series of shots that is painful, but it works very well. This is the latest type of vaccine available. There are four things you can do if you are bitten by an animal that might have rabies. You should wash any wounds thoroughly with warm soapy water. Immediately after, call your doctor or go to an emergency room. Collect as much information about the animal as possible. If it is someone else's pet, find out if it's rabies vaccinations are up to date. Then report the incident to you local animal control officer or health board. This is all you can do about the incident. There are very few rabies cases reported each year. The few cases reported, mostly with the contact off wild animals. The wild animals that are most frequently related with the spread of rabies are skunks, foxes, coyotes, raccoons, rabbits, bats, stray cats, squirrels, rats, and other small rodents. Despite the few cases reported, more people and animals die of rabies every year. Fortunately, there are vaccines to help prevent the kind of virus from spreading and taking animal or human lives.