Shenaz Treasury recently had an unpleasant experience at a restaurant in Mumbai, when a bat fell on her shoulder while she was dining with her friends. As a result, the former VJ and travel influencer got a rabies shot as a precaution. “Their scratches and bites look small but can cause rabies. The doctor said I should get a rabies shot because it can be very fatal,” Treasury shared on social media while getting the first dose.

“I was sitting in a restaurant and a bat landed on my shoulder and hair. I took it out. It’s on the table now,” Treasury previously shared in an Instagram Story.

what is rabies,

Rabies is a viral disease that causes encephalitis in humans and other mammals. Historically known as hydrophobia or fear of water because its victims panic when given liquids to drink, rabies can also be contracted by the bite, scratch or lick of an infected animal – including dogs, monkeys. And bats are involved.

Rabies or RABV is spread by direct contact with saliva or brain or nervous system tissue and is fatal but can be prevented. According to experts, it can spread to people and pets if they are bitten or scratched by a rabid animal.

What happens when you get rabies,

Doctors say the rabies virus enters your body when the saliva of an infected animal gets into an open wound. Even though it moves very slowly along the nerves in your central nervous system – which includes your brain and spinal cord, when the rabies virus reaches your brain, the damage causes neurological symptoms. From there, rabies leads to coma and death.

There are a few stages of rabies that most people go through, including:

incubation

The virus lives in your body for several days to weeks before entering your nervous system. Although you may not have any symptoms during this time, if you get treatment early in the incubation period, you will not get rabies.

prodromal phase

The RABV virus enters your brain and spinal cord through your nerve cells, causing severe nerve damage while traveling. The prodromal phase begins when the rabies virus enters your nervous system. While your immune system will try to fight back, nerve damage may cause tingling, pain, or numbness where you were bitten.

acute neurological phase

In this stage, the rabies virus begins to damage your brain and spinal cord, causing severe symptoms such as aggression, seizures, and delirium. The paralysis caused by rabies can last up to a month.

Coma

This is the final stage of rabies infection, which ultimately leads to death.

Rabies signs and symptoms

Some signs and symptoms of the virus in your body include:

• Fever
• tiredness and fatigue
• burning and itching in the bite wound
• cough and sore throat
• muscle pain
• nausea and vomiting
• Diarrhea
• excitement and aggression
• Restlessness
• seizures and hallucinations
• racing heart
• facial paralysis
• afraid of water or drinking
• delirium
• stiff neck
• paralysis
• Coma
• Death

Why is rabies vaccination important?,

If you have been bitten or scratched by an animal suspected of having rabies, doctors recommend getting vaccinated. Your doctor will give you four shots over 14 days. If you have already been vaccinated before exposure, you will only need two shots. The vaccine teaches your body to destroy the rabies virus before it enters your brain.

These shots of human rabies immune globulin, or HRIG, give you antibodies – molecules that fight infection – that will destroy the virus near the lesion until your body can get it under control.

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