Rabies is an extremely deadly disease in which Rabies virus causes inflammation in the brains of humans and animals.
The most common source of rabies in our country is dogs and foxes. The disease is transmitted to other animals and humans through these animals.
How does rabies develop in humans?
The virus travels to the brain through the nerves in the wound caused by the rabid animal, and begins to multiply here by reproducing. This process is slow. The incubation period varies from 20 to 60 days, depending on the proximity of the bite site to the brain, the size of the wound and the richness of the wound site from nerves. It can be as short as a year or as long as a year.
Pets that are likely to carry rabies in our country are:
Dogs, cats, cattle, sheep, goats, horses and donkeys.
Wild animals:
Wolves, foxes, jackals, pigs, bears, marten, skunks and weasels.
There is a risk of rabies after suspected contact with such animals.
What symptoms are observed in rabid animals?
• Rabies animals show behavioral changes in the first period of the disease.
• At first, they become timid and cowardly.
• They urinate frequently and want to drink excessively.
• While trying to stay out of sight at first, they do not listen to the owner's orders and even attack their owners.
• Dogs never come back by leaving their homes.
• As the disease progresses, they begin to salivate a lot from their mouths.
• They lose their balance gradually, they become unable to walk with paralysis, they fall.
• An animal with rabies dies within a week late.
Symptoms of rabies in humans
Initially, people experience loss of appetite, malaise, fatigue, and fever. There is pain and loss of sensation at the site of the bite, which is the first sign of rabies.
Afterwards, restlessness, extreme fear, aggression, insomnia, psychiatric disorders and depression and accompanying cough, choking Dizziness, chills, abdominal pain, nausea-vomiting can be seen.
Hyperactivity attacks are seen. Attacks characteristically occur as a result of an intermittent visual and auditory stimulus for 1-5 minutes and show itself as aggression, hitting oneself and others, running and biting.
About half of the patients drink water during the attacks. Because of the contraction of the throat muscles during the attempt to drink water, the person experiences a feeling of suffocation and suffocation, and hydrophobia (fear of water) develops in the patients.
In the period between attacks, the patient is usually unconscious and conscious.
A coma develops 7 days after the development of neurological symptoms and the patient eventually dies.
The cat has been scratched!
In which cases rabies vaccination should be given?
Bite: bites of animals that may catch rabies
Scratching: scratching of animals that may have rabies
Contact: Contact with the animal's saliva, saliva or neural tissue (brain, etc.) with an open wound or mucous membrane (in the mouth) For this reason, in cases of suspicious contact with cats and dogs, if possible, the animal should be observed for 10 days. If the animal dies at the end of the 10-day period, it must be vaccinated. If the animal is alive and does not show signs of disease, no vaccination is required.
Street cat scratched, is vaccination necessary?
Small scratching of the skin (injuries that do not go under the skin) and minor scratches may not require vaccination.
People who have received a full dose of rabies vaccine in the last 6 months do not need to be vaccinated again after exposure. However, other treatment methods other than vaccination should be applied.
In people who have been vaccinated, they should be vaccinated again in cases where the facial area is injured or the immune system is suppressed.
Let's get to the practice...
What should I do after the injury?
The wound should be washed thoroughly with soap and water immediately.
Rabies vaccine, Antibiotic required A healthcare provider should be consulted for the health and tetanus vaccination needs.
How many doses of rabies vaccine are given?
0, 3, 7 and 14-28. A total of four doses of vaccine are given between days.
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