A woman in Wyoming has become the first recorded person in that state to contract rabies. The Wyoming Department of Health and Centers for Disease Control and Prevention have confirmed the case of human rabies.
Health officials announced Friday that a woman from Fremont County had contracted the disease, according to the Casper Star-Tribune. They said she may have been exposed to the virus by a bat.
The rabies virus is often carried in warm-blooded animals such as bats and skunks, but humans only rarely become infected. There are only one or two human cases in the United States each year. Officials have not disclosed the status of the woman's health, but rabies is usually deadly once it develops. Once symptoms appear, the patient almost always dies.
Rabies is a viral disease that causes an acute inflammation of the brain and central nervous system. The early symptoms include fever and tingling at the site of exposure, followed by symptoms that can include violent movements, uncontrolled excitement, paralysis of parts of the body, confusion, and loss of consciousness. The time period between contracting rabies and the start of symptoms is usually one to three months to more than one year.
Rabies is spread through a scratch or bite from an infected animal. Saliva from an infected animal can also transmit rabies if the saliva comes into contact with the mouth, nose, or eyes.
In people who have been exposed to rabies, the rabies vaccine and sometimes rabies immunoglobulin are effective in preventing the disease if the person receives the treatment before the start of rabies symptoms.
Rabies was once called hydrophobia, which means "fear of water." This is because there is a period of time in the later stages of an infection when the patient has difficulty swallowing and shows panic when presented with liquids to drink.
People should keep a safe distance from wildlife and should have pet animals vaccinated against rabies. Worldwide, the most common animal to spread rabies is the dog. However, in the United States bats are the most common source and fewer than 5% of cases are from dogs.
