Recently, it was reported that a 48-year-old Shengzhou man went to Hangzhou Hospital for medical treatment and died only 3 days after being diagnosed with rabies!
The man sought medical treatment on the night of March 27. According to his description:I have had a low-grade fever for several days, and I am afraid of the wind. When it blows, I feel chest tightness and throat discomfort. I always feel thirsty, but I am afraid of drinking water.
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During the consultation, the man also appeared restless and had difficulty sitting still.
The doctor initially judged that it was rabies, so he asked if he had ever been bitten by a cat or dog before, or had his skin scratched, but the man denied it.
In order to verify his judgment, the doctor ordered a laboratory test.Rabies virus was found in his cerebrospinal fluid.
Three days later, the doctor called back. Unfortunately, the man had passed away, and his wife also revealed a detail: “He was bitten by a dog a few years ago!”
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After the news came out, it immediately became a hot search.
“The bite occurred a few years ago, but it still occurs now. Is the incubation period of rabies so long?”
“It's definitely rabies. Why did you let the man go? Why didn't the doctor treat him? Maybe he can be saved!”
“No wonder I always hear people say that the incubation period of rabies can be as long as 19 years. This time I believe it.”
Don’t rush to make judgments. You can learn about rabies first.
Neurotropic viruses, once infected, have a fatality rate of almost 100%
Rabies is a zoonotic disease caused by rabies virus infection.
The reason why it is called this is because99% of rabies cases are directly caused by dog bites or scratches.
Globally, the largest number of sick people are in Africa and Asia. In the Americas, where dogs are better controlled, rabies virus mainly comes from bat bites, and only 5% comes from dogs.
Once rabies occurs, the fatality rate is almost 100%. This is because:Rabies virus infects the nerves. There are no symptoms during the incubation period, and there is no very effective way to detect the virus. It is easy to be ignored. Once the virus spreads and invades the brain, it means it is too late.
A rabies attack progresses through the following stages:
Incubation period:
If a person is bitten by a sick animal and fails to get vaccinated in time, the virus will enter the human body through the saliva of the sick animal, and the human body will be infected if the wound is exposed and licked by the sick animal.
At this time, the human body has no symptoms.
But the virus is not idle. It invades from the wound, first reproduces locally, and then travels throughout the body along with the nerves. Its ultimate target is the brain.
During the incubation period, the virus is silent and does not “attack” the human body because it has not yet occupied the main location (such as the spinal cord and brain).
Symptoms: In the early stage, patients will experience fatigue, headache, fever and other symptoms. Although the bitten area has healed, most people will feel itchy at this time.
Slowly, symptoms such as fear, excitement, insomnia, and anxiety will appear.
Manic phase:
During this period, typical symptoms of rabies will appear, such as fear of wind, fear of water, difficulty swallowing, being afraid to drink water if you want to, and not quenching your thirst even if you drink water.
The appearance of these symptoms means that the virus has invaded the brain. After it takes over the body's salivary glands, it secretes a large amount of saliva in order to produce more viruses (there are viruses in the saliva);
Under its control, patients dare not drink water and will engage in aggressive behavior because drinking water will dilute the virus content. At the same time, aggressive behavior such as biting is the most effective way to spread the virus.
It can be said that the ultimate goal of the virus is to reproduce and spread.
Coma period:
After the mania, the human body will eventually enter a quiet state.
This is because in the late stage, the vital organs of the human body are severely damaged, and most basic functions can no longer be maintained, leading to paralysis of the limbs, and the virus has also achieved its purpose of reproduction and spread. After a few days, the patient dies.
In some cases, the virus sometimes fails to control its lethality, and the infection is very violent at the beginning. As a result, some patients do not experience the manic stage and directly enter the most severe paralysis stage.
The man mentioned at the beginning was actually in a manic stage and died 3 days after seeking medical treatment, which is consistent with the onset of rabies.
Generally speaking, the onset of rabies only lasts 7-10 days, and death will eventually occur due to respiratory tract, organ failure and other reasons.
What is the longest incubation period for rabies?
Generally speaking, the incubation period for rabies is 1-3 months from infection to the onset of symptoms.
The length of the incubation period actually refers to the spread time of the virus. There are many restricting factors, such as:
If the bite position is closer to the brain, the path will obviously be shorter, and the latency period will be shorter;
What is the state of disease (viral load) of the biting animal? If the animal reaches the manic stage, it means that the concentration of viruses in the saliva is high and the number is large. When bitten, more viruses will enter the wound, and the incubation period will be shorter;
Types of rabies virus: There are actually many types of rabies virus, and the onset time of different types will be different.
It is precisely because of the characteristics of rabies that vary from person to person that there are some rare and extreme cases.
According to past case statistics,Those with an incubation period of less than 1 month (the shortest is 4 days) accounted for 30%; those with 1-3 months accounted for 54%, those with more than 3 months accounted for 15%, and those with more than 1 year accounted for 1%.
The following cases can be found in the literature:
1. “A case of human rabies in Wuhan with a long incubation period”, released on November 4, 2020, a 63-year-old Wuhan woman became ill on May 6, 2018, and was bitten by a dog 3 years ago;
2. “Phylogenetic and epidemiological evidence of multi-year latency of human rabies”, released on January 23, 2014. A man was diagnosed 8 years after immigrating to the United States from Brazil. The virus isolated from his body was a Latin American canine rabies virus strain. The United States is No, so the incubation period of rabies is confirmed to be as long as 8 years. Before he left Brazil, he disposed of canine carcasses.
3. “The incubation period of rabies virus encephalitis may be as long as 25 years!” “, released from July to September 2012, a 48-year-old man in India suffered from rabies in November 2009. He himself described being bitten on the leg 25 years ago. The researchers examined the men's work and home environments, as well as their interpersonal relationships. According to existing surveys, it is believed that the incubation period of 25 years is very likely (not 100% certain).
It can be seen that in reality, there are still cases in which the incubation period of rabies lasts for more than ten years.
but,Most scientists still believe that “the incubation period of rabies lasts for more than ten years.” This statement lacks scientific basis to support it.
Because there are too few such cases, and the time interval between many cases is too long, there are phenomena such as lax investigation and patients forgetting to make mistakes.
at last
It is worth noting that people will get sick only if they are bitten by an animal that has rabies virus in their body and the virus enters the human body. If you get vaccinated in time after being bitten, you can 100% prevent the disease from happening.
People who are lucky often miss the best period of cure. When the disease occurs, the medicine will basically be ineffective.
But there are also people who have been cured. The global number of rabies cures in 2019 was 29.
It may be that these people have tenacious vitality, or they may be lucky, and they survived in the end, but the price is the sequelae all over their bodies.
Unfortunately, their therapeutic experience cannot be replicated. The same treatment method has completely different effects on different people, so it cannot be promoted.
In other words, based on the current scientific level, the mortality rate of rabies is still 100%.
But I believe that it won’t take long to conquer rabies. Chinese scientists have found a genetic switch that inhibits rabies virus a few years ago.
Editor in charge: Shang Shangwen Q