Symptoms
What does rabies look like?
For both people and animals, rabies comes in two forms - furious and paralytic. The furious form is closest to our stereotypical view of rabies and accounts for around 80% of human rabies cases.
The early symptoms of rabies in people can include pain, tingling, or burning sensations around the wound, and flu-like symptoms such as a fever and headache.
Once the symptoms of rabies develop, the disease is almost always fatal.
Rabies in people
In people the furious form of rabies shows itself through:
- Hyperactivity – being unusually or abnormally active
- Hyper salivation – excessive saliva and the loss of the ability to swallow, causing drooling
- Periods of agitation alternating with lucidity
- Hydrophobia (fear of water)
- Aerophobia - an aversion to fresh air and drafts
People with the less common paralytic form of rabies suffer with:
- Muscle weakness starting at the site of infection
- Gradual paralysis
Rabies in dogs
In dogs the furious form of rabies shows itself through:
- Restlessness
- A change in bark
- Sensitivity to sound and movement
- Uncontrollable aggression
- Throat paralysis or hanging jaw
- Build-up of excess saliva through an inability to swallow
The paralytic form is the most prevalent form of rabies in dogs and leads to:
- Increasing muscle weakness
- Lethargy or lack of energy
- Ataxia – a lack of coordination
- Gradual paralysis
