What Happens When a Human Gets Rabies?

Rabies has been scaring populations for thousands of years, but it's scary for more reasons than just a painful bite. Once the virus is inside us, it not only destroys our body, but damages our mind, and it can happen fast, or lay dormant for years before fatally attacking.
So how exactly do we get from a dog bite to a complete behavioral change to...death?
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SICK is a new series that looks at how diseases actually work inside our body. We'll be visiting medical centers and talking to top researchers and doctors to uncover the mysteries of viruses, bacteria, fungi and our own immune system. Come back every Tuesday for a new episode and let us know in the comments which diseases you think we should cover next.
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Read More:

Survival after Treatment of Rabies with Induction of Coma

Can Rabies Be Eradicated?

How Rabies Spawned Zombies and Vampires

Kansas State University Rabies Laboratory

[Master_Therion]

I used to think the word for Rabbit Babies was Rabies.
I received some strange looks at the animal shelter when I asked for rabies.

[kenjohnson]

I was 5 years old in 1956 when I got bit by a skunk. The skunk was caught and taken to the 8th floor of Parkland Hospital in Dallas. The 8th floor has it's own elevator and is an animal hospital floor (or it was in the 50's). The skunk was euthanized and it was determined the skunk had rabies. This meant I had to take 21 rabies shots in the intestine area. One a day, alternating sides. Each injection left a big sore spot on a little boys stomach and they hurt. My Dad promised me we would get a banana split if I didn't cry out. After about 12 days, it hurt so much that tear would flow freely but I didn't make a sound. I got 21 banana splits! This was a true account of a 5 year old's experience with the shots.

[teampunk]

Rabies: *enters the body*
T cells: I'll pretend I didn't see that

[psyko]

I live in the same city as Jeana giese (the teenager who survived rabies in its advanced state) and remember how her recovery was such a milestone in medical history. From what I hear she's doing great, married, has a family, and works with animals. And has very few side effects from her experience (maybe some speech issues)

[Alfirio]

I got bit by a squirrel once.. I asked the doctor for a rabies shot and he said I had to go the County’s office and apply for one. They’d review my application for 6 weeks before I can get approved for it.
I obviously didn’t have rabies but if I did, I’m pretty sure the shot wouldn’t have work after 6 weeks

1yr Update: I got bit 7 years ago. Obviously I am alive but people in here are saying it’s fake. If you live in America, go ask your doctor what the process is to get a shot. See what they say. That’s just what mine said at the time

[jerry]

Rabies is one of the scariest diseases of all time. Not many diseases can claim to be 99.99% fatal.

[RayMak]

I didn't know that rabies can be so scary

[Hassony]

Human: *gets rabies*
Immune system: “i have never met this man in my life”.

[damprr]

Human: Gets rabies
Immune system: ...

[thenorthwestpassage]

Being 7 having to get rabies shots after getting bite by a dog wasn’t a big deal for me but now I realize how different and serious it could have been.(was in a high rabies area of China)

[airbuddies]

whats with the music that does not even remotely match the topic or tone

[davidrobinson]

It's incredible that a microscopic being can produce such an elaborate scheme to ensure its survival; Replicating slowly to avoid detection, special maneuvers to avoid and Eliminate threats, hitting the salvation glands and encouraging agressiveness to ensure transmission, and rejecting water to ensure its presence. That's pretty freaking smart for something you can't see..

[taliawtf]

In some cases where people have had the virus they reported an odd urge to bite other people, that's kinda scary honestly. Also no shocker that this disease is used as a basis for movies and books for zombie like virus' of a bio weapon sort.

[paulbrooks]

No....No, I did not just look over my shoulder. Pretty confident that I don't have bats freely roaming around my living room.

[lucasgiles]

No didn't just look on my shoulder because I'm laying down in bed

[dotdotdot...]

Note: rabies can also be spread if scratched by a rabid animal or even if their saliva gets into an existing small cut/wound or your eye, not just through a bite or the other rarer ways mentioned in this video.

[peterstoric]

“Rabies has gone airborne”
The scariest sentence possible, simply because we may hear it someday

[amirul]

"You just looked on your shoulder didn't you?"


yes lol i rlly did. it sucks to live inside a cave full of bats. this vid made me paranoid

[cheeselover]

This is why sleeping with a window open without a screen isnt smart. You definitely wouldn't know a bat flew in and bit you then flew out. Scary.

[antsatlas]

Imagine if our immune system listened to our brains to know when we know we are sick.