Rabies (How To Increase Your Chances of Survival)

Rabies is one of the deadliest viral diseases the humanity faces. Once the clinical disease presents, the mortality rate is almost 100%. Yet, there are measures we can take to increase our chances of survival in the event of exposure. Rabies exposure can be subtle of it can take the form of a severe bite wound after an attack by a rabid animal. The subtle cases involve the bite from bats, such as vampire bats, in which the puncture wound is so small (about the size of a hypodermic needle) that it goes completely unnoticed. In such cases, rabies can be a diagnostic nightmare and frequently ends up being misdiagnosed as Guillain-Barre Syndrome, a stroke or other forms of encephalitis. Rabies is not as uncommon as we think, and rabies can be contracted from wild animals or from pets that come into contact with wild animals quite unexpectedly. Rabies awareness is necessary to prevent more deaths from this deadly disease.