Rabies: Symptoms, Treatment, and Prevention

What is rabies? Rabies is a disease that lasts an acute viral infection, caused by rabiesvirus that attacks the central nervous system, rabies patient melaiui animal bites or direct contact with the saliva of rabid animals sufferers.

Rabies virus is a rhabdovirus which includes family rhabdoviridae, has a bullet-shaped virion sheathed with one end flat and the other end rounded, measuring 75x180 nm.

The spread of rabies, rabies spread all over the world, except the United Kingdom and Australia. The main source of rabies infections in humans are dogs and cats that live in close proximity with humans. Infection occurs through the bite of an animal with rabies patient or wound in the skin through contact with the saliva of animals rabies patients. The spread of rabies is highly dependent on the development of the virus in the salivary glands of infected animals.

The clinical symptoms of rabies, after an incubation period of 2-16 weeks, timbui clinical symptoms such as fever, headache, expansion, vomiting, swallowing disorders and voice becomes hoarse. On the former site of the bite, although the wound had healed, was parestesis. Increased skin sensitivity sufferers and easily aroused (irritable) and patients experienced hyperhidrosis. Due to spasm of the glottis, people are afraid to drink water (hidrofobi).

Signs of meningitis arise in the form of convulsions or paralysis, within 3-5 days rabies disease patients will die due to respiratory paralysis or cardiac dysfunction. Diseases that have similar clinical symptoms of rabies are tetanus, meningoencephalitis, koriomeningitis lymphocytic and intoxication.

The diagnosis of rabies, all the dead animals with suspected rabies should be examined in a laboratory. Diagnosis of rabies confirmed if the ganglion cell histological examination of dead animals with suspected rabies found Negri bodies. Eksofil Negri bodies are objects that are often found in the cytoplasm of nerve, a round that easily stained with eosin, fuchsin, Giemsa.
Microscopic examination of cerebrospinal fluid can be done to find the rabies virus. Test animals try using baby animal (suckling animal) for instance hamsters, mice or rabbits dinokulasi intracranial suspension submaksiler brain or salivary glands of animals suspected of rabies, will show symptoms of rabies for example, the occurrence of convulsions.

To help with the diagnosis of rabies in humans and in animals performed serology and fluorescence test. Examination shows a picture of the patient's blood eosinophilia and hyperglycemia, whereas the examination of cerebrospinal fluid increases the amount of proteins and cells.

Rabies treatment and care, Each animal bite wounds should be washed immediately with soapy water, and the area around the wound are also cleared from the saliva of animals and maintained so as not to get into the wound. The bleeding must be stopped.
Preventive therapy during the incubation can be done in the form of immune serum and vaccination. If the symptoms of rabies have developed, the treatment generally is not useful anymore. Treatment is only a palliative therapy and symptomatic therapy.

Prevention of rabies, rabies to prevent infection and spread, measures actions to be taken are as follows:
1. All the monkeys, dogs and cats should be vaccinated regularly maintained.
2. Wild animals are a source of rabies infection must be eradicated.
3. People who are bitten by an animal suspected of rabies should be given Duck Embryo Vaccine (DEV) as much as 23 doses of injection and Human diploid Cell Rabies Vaccine (HDCV) as much as 5 doses.
4. Veterinarians and people at high risk of contracting rabies vaccination can be given with DEV and HDCV.

Share this :