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Last Updated: Mar 22, 2023
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What are the initial (prodromal) symptoms of rabies?
Pain or paresthesia at the site of the bite is well–known as a diagnostically useful prodromal symptom occurring in one–third to two–thirds of cases. In Thailand, however, a specific type of paresthesia–itching–was the earliest symptom in >40% of cases. Itching occurred at the site of the healed bite wound or involved the whole bitten limb and was sometimes so intense as to provoke frenzied scratching and excoriation of the skin. The explanation for local paresthesia may be the multiplication of virus in the dorsal root ganglion of the sensory nerve supplying the area of the bite.
Pain behind the grafted eye was an early symptom in 3 of the 4 patients who developed rabies following corneal transplants.
Priapism with frequent spontaneous orgasms was the first symptom in one Thai patient.
Fever, malaise, nausea and vomiting.
The skin becomes sensitive to changes of temperature, especially air currents.