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A 23-year-old woman died in a hospital in Coimbatore after she contracted rabies from a pet puppy bite, doctors said. According to the city corporation officials, the woman used to look after four puppies of the indie breed and one of them bit her last month.
However, she did visit a private clinic, but the doctor there just administered her a tetanus shot – to prevent tetanus, a serious disease that can cause painful muscle stiffening and even death. Officials said recently, she developed the symptoms of rabies – a fatal viral disease that affects the central nervous system and spreads to humans through bites or scratches from an infected animal – usually dogs, cats, monkeys, and raccoons.
"The incident had remained unnoticed until her death. We only became aware of the situation after she had died. If she had taken the anti-rabies vaccine (ARV) after the bite her death could have been prevented,” Coimbatore Corporation commissioner M Sivaguru Prabakaran told Times of India. Prabhakaran said in response to the incident, the corporation is now planning to vaccinate 10,000 dogs in the city.
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According to experts, the rabies virus gets into your body when the saliva of an infected animal gets into an open wound – usually from a bite or scratch. It moves very slowly along nerves into your central nervous system – your brain and spinal cord. When it reaches your brain, the damage causes neurological symptoms.
From there, rabies leads to coma and death.
Doctors say the rabies virus moves from an infected wound to your brain over time after undergoing several phases which include:
Incubation
Here the virus spends weeks in your body before getting into your nervous system. However, there are no symptoms during this time.
Prodromal phase
The virus now travels through your nerve cells into the brain and spinal cord, causing nerve damage as it goes. It also causes flu-like symptoms for at least ten days.
Acute neurologic phase
In this phase, the rabies virus damages your brain and spinal cord – with symptoms that make you paralytic and weak and last up to a month. After that, the patient enters a coma.
Signs and symptoms of rabies
The symptoms of rabies include:
- Fever
- Tiredness and fatigue
- Burning and itching on the bite wound
- Cough and sore throat
- Muscle pain
- Agitation
- Restlessness
- Seizures and hallucinations
- Fast and excessive breathing
- Excessive salivation
- Facial paralysis
- Fear of water/drinking
- Delirium
- Full body paralysis
- Coma
How to prevent rabies from spreading?
Doctors say if you have been bitten or scratched by an animal, without any delay get yourself shown to a doctor. They will examine your wound and ask questions to determine whether you need to be treated for rabies. You may also be tested for signs of rabies.
There is no approved treatment for rabies once you have symptoms so, if you have been exposed, clean the wound with soap and water and immediately get the series of vaccinations to prevent the virus from causing rabies.
The doctor will also administer an antibody treatment directly to the wound if you have never been vaccinated before. The anti-rabies vaccination is given for 14 days splitting into four shots. The vaccine teaches your body to destroy the rabies virus before it enters your brain.