Rabies, or 'hydrophobia', is known as a disease that makes dogs sick and mad. Consequently, all dogs in many northern European countries are vaccinated against it. However, it can affect all warm-blooded creatures, including man.

Rabies is caused by a virus, which, among other things, attacks the nervous system and is excreted later in the saliva. When an animal gets sick, it may start to bite.

Normally between three weeks and three months can pass between infection and the onset of symptoms (incubation period). But in individual instances, it may be as much as several years.

In spite of being bitten by an animal with rabies, it is not certain that you have been infected. Only one out of six people who have been bitten develop symptoms - even if they have not been treated.

If you get rabies and do not manage to be treated in time, the disease evolves in two phases:

The prodomal phase (prelude)
In this phase, the patient may have a fever, vomiting and loss of appetite, headache and pain at the site of the original bite. The autonomic nervous system is affected. This manifests itself as copious salivation and weeping.

The neurological phase
Paralysis may occur in this phase. In particular, there are spasms in the throat, making swallowing difficult.The person affected becomes terrified of water (which is why it's also called 'hydrophobia') and becomes anxious and hyperactive.
It is in this phase that animals become mad and bite. Symptoms such as those seen in encephalitis are also present, along with increasingly uncontrolled movement, confusion and delirium.

You're at greatest risk of contracting rabies if your activities bring you into contact with the rabies virus or a potentially rabid mammal. People at highest risk include veterinarians, animal caretakers or handlers, laboratory workers, cave explorers, forest rangers and people visiting bat-inhabited caves.