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NPM : 220110110029
Writing task
1. From
To
Subject
: Juliet Francisco
: j.till@cityhospital.nhs.uk
: post of mental health nurse
The incubation period is the time it takes for symptoms to develop after person
infected with the virus. The incubation period for rabies is usually two to 12 weeks,
although it can be as short as four days. The closer the site of infection is to your brain,
the shorter the incubation period. For example, a bite to your face, head or neck will have
shorter incubation period than a bite to your arm or leg.
The initial symptoms of rabies are often vague, and it can be easy to mistake them
for other less serious types of infection. They include : a high temperature of 38 oC or
above, chills, fatigue (extreme tiredness), problems of sleeping, lack of appetite,
headache, irritability, anxiety, sore throat, vomiting, and around half of people will also
experience pain and a tingling sensation at the site of infection.
Initial symptoms of rabies last for two to 10 days before more severe symptoms
start to develop. There are two type of advanced rabies. First is furious rabies, which
accounts for four out of five cases. During these episodes a person may have some or all
the following signs and symptoms like aggressive behavior, such a thrashing out or
biting, agitation, hallucination, delusions, excessive production of saliva, high
temperature, excessive sweating, the hair on the skin stands up, hydrophobia. The second
is dumb or paralytic rabies, which accounts for the reminder of cases. Dumb rabies is
characterized by muscle weakness, loss of sensation, and paralysis. This usually begins in
the hands and feet before spreading throughout the body.
As with humans, the symptoms of rabies in an animal follow a number of stages.
The first stage is marked by initial vague symptoms such as loss of appetite, a change in
normal behavior, such as appearing unusually tame around strangers. The second stage is
known as the mad dog stage and usually lasts for two to four days. It is characterized by
aggressive and erratic behavior, such as constantly barking, no fear of natural enemies,
attempting to attack and bite anything that comes near, including inanimate objects. The
final stage, known as the paralytic stage, lasts for two to four days and is characterized by
symptoms such as the animal appearing to be choking, foaming at the mouth, the
dropping of the lower jaw (in dogs), paralysis of the jaw, mouth, and throat muscle.