Rabies Incubation
The rabies incubation period represents the time between the infection of a person or animal with the virus of rabies, and the time when symptoms begin to be shown. The rabies incubation time does tend to be different from one individual to the next, but the usual time is between one and three months. There have been cases where the incubation period has only been a few days, however, and also times when it has lasted a few years.
To summarize the rabies incubation period, the rabies virus most generally gets into the body of the victim through the saliva of the infected animal. Most of the time this is caused by a bite. In not-as-common instances, you can contract rabies if you get infected saliva in an open wound you might have, or into your nose, eyes or mouth.
After an animal or human is infected with the rabies virus, the virus multiplies in the body of the person who was infected. This multiplication of the rabies virus in the body will eventually cause the host to develop visible rabies symptoms. This time period between the initial moment of infection and the onset of symptoms is known as the rabies incubation period.
The rabies virus first replicates in the muscle tissue near the site where the virus entered the body. Then it enters the peripheral nervous system and through that, gains access to the central nervous system. After that move, it eventually enters the saliva of the affected animal or person, and that is generally how it is then spread.
In humans, the rabies incubation period can vary also depending on the weight and age of the individual. Younger children and the elderly have a shorter incubation period than a heavy adult male. The dose of rabies virus that actually infects an individual is dependent also on the size, location and severity of the animal bite or scratch.
As far as how the infection occurs to proceed through the incubation period, there are means other than the usual animal-bites-human scenario. Farmers and veterinarians sometimes are infected when working with their hands in the mouths of animals who turn out to be infected with rabies. Laboratory workers have also been infected by rabies through contact with needles or scalpels or other lab equipment that has become contaminated.
There have been situations where people have contracted rabies by breathing in air that happened to contain a large content of rabies germs from the virus. This has been known to occur in bat caves. It has also occurred in laboratories, where not following proper safety procedures resulted in a mist or aerosol that contained the virus.