Rabies: The Silent Killer
A young child awakens early one morning to a fluttering sound coming from the blinds covering his bedroom window. He gets out of bed and notices what looks like a small bird flopping around on the floor. The child picks up the bird and realizes that it’s not a bird but a bat and releases it out the window. Weeks later, the child develops a fever, headache and becomes disoriented and is admitted to a hospital. Tragically, he dies two days later from what doctors diagnose as rabies.
This scenario is not uncommon when it comes to humans being infected with rabies. “In recent years, a lot of human cases of rabies have occurred in people who were scratched or bitten by a bat and didn’t realize such contact can cause an infection with rabies,” said Dr. Charles Rupprecht, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s (CDC) lead researcher for rabies. “Anyone who is bitten or scratched by an animal needs to immediately wash the wound with soap and water, and then consult their doctor to see if further treatment is needed.”
Rabies is a disease caused by a virus which attacks the central nervous system.
Early symptoms of the disease include fever, headache and feeling tired.
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