rabies incubation in humans

[Guest guest]

>From Dr. Ray Butcher in response to being asked what is the longest

>proven incubation time of rabies in human beings:

>

>The question is a good one - there is much in the literature but some claims

>are perhaps dubious.

>

>In general the incubation is variable - the virus travels from the site of

>the bite along nerve tracts to the brain and so in general the closer to

>the head the wound is the shorter the incubation period.

>

>I will quote from a long report called " Quarantine and rabies - A Reappraisal "

>issued by the UK (then called) Ministry of Agriculture Fisheries and Food

>in 1998 prior to the UK Government changing the quarantine requirements.

>The full report may be available on the web, but the department has

>now changed its name to DEFRA (Department of Environment Food and

>Rural Affairs).

>

>6.4.1 Although rabies is an acute viral infection, it does not have the usual

>stage of virus spread via the blood stream during the incubation period of

>the disease. The virus advances slowly along nerve pathways until it reaches

>its destination in the spinal cord and brain. This means that the incubation

>period varies with the distance from the point of entry to the central nervous

>system. From a bite on the head or face, the incubation period may be three

>to six weeks, while after a bite on the foot it may be two to six months

>or more, and occassional cases have an incubation period of one to two years.

>

>6.4.2 There are occassional reports of incubation periods exceeding twenty

>years, though some of these infections may have been due to more recent,

>unrecognised exposures. Incubation periods for children are usually shorter

>than those in adults. As with animals, rabies developing despite post exposure

>immunisation tends to have a rather short incubation period.

>

 

--

Kim Bartlett, Publisher of ANIMAL PEOPLE Newspaper

Postal mailing address: P.O. Box 960, Clinton WA 98236 U.S.A.

CORRECT EMAIL ADDRESS IS: <ANPEOPLE

Website: http://www.animalpeoplenews.org/ with French and Spanish

language subsections.