Rabies fear of water refers to hydrophobia, a symptom of rabies characterized by a fear or panic attack when attempting to drink water or when presented with liquids.

Written by Xiong Hong Hai

Infectious Disease

Updated on November 03, 2024

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Patients with rabies are indeed very afraid of water. When trying to drink water, or even when seeing water or hearing the word "water," they experience uncontrollable spasms in the throat muscles and difficulty swallowing. Although they are very thirsty, they dare not drink water. In addition to being afraid of water, they are also afraid of bright lights, noise, and wind. These stimuli can cause whole-body spasms and pain, lead to opisthotonos, excessive nervous excitement, and eventually result in death due to coma.

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Written by Xiong Hong Hai

Infectious Disease

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Does rabies cause fever?

Rabies can indeed cause fever during the more obvious period of clinical symptoms, often accompanied by excessive neurological excitation, such as drooling, tearing, sweating, and tachycardia. There may also be agitation, hallucinations, and other typical neurological symptoms such as hallucinations, convulsions, bizarre behavior, hyperfunction, and neck stiffness. These symptoms manifest as extreme fear, hydrophobia, fear of wind, difficulty swallowing, and high sensitivity to bright light and noise; most cases result in death within 3-5 days, and it is very rare for cases to last more than two weeks.

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Written by Xiong Hong Hai

Infectious Disease

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Can rabies be inherited?

Rabies is an infectious disease, not a hereditary disease, and there is no possibility of it being inherited. It is mainly caused by being bitten by dogs, cats, or bats carrying the rabies virus. If timely treatment and intervention are not administered after being bitten by these animals, there is a chance of contracting the rabies virus. The rabies virus attacks the human nervous system and eventually proliferates extensively in the brain, leading to the exhaustion of brain functions and resulting in death.

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Written by Xiong Hong Hai

Infectious Disease

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How long is the longest incubation period for rabies?

The incubation period of rabies is generally between one to three months, and it is rare for the disease to have incubation period longer than a year. Most cases usually fall within one to three months, according to the 2016 Rabies Prevention Guide. The longest recorded incubation period for rabies mentioned in the guide was six years, but such cases are extremely rare. Therefore, if a person is bitten by a dog and does not develop the disease within a year, it is generally considered that they were not infected with rabies at the time of the bite. Rabies is a fatal disease, with a 100% fatality rate upon infection, so prevention is crucial.

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Written by Xiong Hong Hai

Infectious Disease

42sec

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Can rabies be transmitted?

Rabies is primarily caused by not getting vaccinated after being bitten by a rabid dog; this has been found in epidemiological studies in our country. In addition to bites from rabid dogs, there are also instances of people being bitten or scratched by cats, or bitten by bats, though these are relatively less common. So far, there have been no cases found of transmission from human to human. Rabies is a fatal disease; once infected, the mortality rate is 100%. Therefore, after being bitten by a dog, it is crucial to take preventive measures, treat the wound, and administer rabies vaccine and rabies immunoglobulin to generally prevent infection.

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Written by Xiong Hong Hai

Infectious Disease

35sec

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How long can rabies antibodies last?

Antibodies for rabies generally last for a relatively long time. According to the 2016 rabies prevention guidelines, if the rabies vaccine is administered systematically and sufficient levels of rabies antibodies are produced, then three to five years later, the vast majority of people can still detect effective levels of rabies antibodies. Nowadays, the detection of rabies antibodies is also quite convenient, so if one has been vaccinated against rabies before and is exposed again, it is possible to first test for rabies antibodies to determine whether there is a need to vaccinate again.