|
|
|
|---|
Rabies is more dangerous than you might think : this is what you need to know about this virus
1. What is rabies?
Rabies is a viral infection of the brain that can be fatal without timely treatment.
Worldwide, approximately 60,000 people die from rabies every year.
2. In which countries is this most common ?
It mainly concerns countries in Eastern Europe, Africa, Asia and Latin America.
You can also contract rabies in popular holiday countries,
such as Morocco, Turkey, Egypt, Thailand and South Africa.
The chance of contracting the disease in western-european countries is very small.
In the past 60 years, only eight Dutch people have contracted rabies.
Almost all of those people were scratched or bitten abroad.
3. Which animals transmit the disease to humans, and how do you get it ?
Rabies is transmitted by mammals.
The virus mainly occurs in dogs, bats, monkeys, foxes and cats.
You can get it if an infected animal bites you, scratches or licks non-intact skin.
You can also contract the virus if the animal's saliva gets on the mucous membrane
of your eyes or mouth, for example.
There is no chance of contracting rabies through contact with urine, feces or blood
of a human or animal infected with rabies.
4. How do you know if an animal is rabid ?
It is often not clearly visible that an animal is contagious.
An animal that is infected will eventually show symptoms.
This concerns aggression or suddenly changing behavior and symptoms such as muscle cramps and drooling.
But an animal can already be contagious before it becomes ill.
5. What are the symptoms of rabies in humans ?
The disease usually starts with complaints such as chills, fever, vomiting and headache.
Then you will suffer from cramps.
You may experience muscle cramps that become progressively worse, convulsions
(where the entire body starts to shake), paralysis, difficulty swallowing, and difficulty breathing.
Someone with rabies sometimes also becomes afraid of water.
Without medical treatment, the swallowing and breathing problems that occur with rabies
lead to death.
The time between becoming infected and becoming ill usually lasts between twenty to ninety days.
6. What should you do if you have come into contact with a rabid animal ?
If you have been at risk from a bite, scratch or lick,
it is important to clean the wound thoroughly with soap and water for at least 15 minutes
and disinfect it with Betadine or alcohol (70 percent).
It is then important to seek medical help as soon as possible.
Preferably within 24 hours, even if someone has been vaccinated against rabies.
Emergency treatment will then be started as soon as possible to prevent someone
from becoming infected.
7. How dangerous is it if you do get the virus?
The advice is mainly to avoid contact with animals.
So do not touch (living, sick or dead) animals and do not feed them.
This way you also avoid the risk of a bite, scratch or lick.
If someone is traveling unvaccinated and has nevertheless had risky contact with an animal,
the most important advice is to seek medical care as soon as possible.
If you do not do this and you become infected and become ill,
then here is no treatment possible for the disease.
After an injury, treatment can prevent the virus from entering the nervous system.
This preventive treatment can only be given before symptoms appear.
An untreated rabies infection is always fatal.
The vaccination consists of 2 injections (with a certain intervaltime) that provide lifelong protection against the serious consequences of the virus.
Back in 2017 I paid some € 700 in total for the vaccinations I took before starting YesTrip.nl.
⏫