Rabid

Here is another example of something I've known for a long time, but was never clear on the exact details. This interest springing up after viewing the 1971 hippie gore freakout film, I Drink Your Blood, in which a town is overrun by a group of rabid hippie satanic freaks.

Here are the facts:

The virus is usually present in the blood and saliva of a symptomatic rabid animal. The route of infection is usually, but not necessarily, by a bite, and in many cases in animals, causes the victim to be exceptionally aggressive, attack without provocation, and exhibit otherwise uncharacteristic behavior[1]. Transmission has occurred via an aerosol through mucous membranes; transmission in this form may have happened in people exploring caves populated by rabid bats. Transmission between humans is extremely rare, although it can happen through transplant surgery (see below for recent cases), or, even more rarely, through bites or kisses.

After a typical human infection by bite, the virus directly or indirectly enters the peripheral nervous system. It then travels along the nerves towards the central nervous system. During this phase, the virus cannot be easily detected within the host, and vaccination may still confer cell-mediated immunity to preempt symptomatic rabies. Once the virus reaches the brain, it rapidly causes encephalitis and symptoms appear. It may also inflame the spinal cord producing myelitis.

The period between infection and the first flu-like symptoms is normally three to twelve weeks, but can be as long as two years. Soon after, the symptoms expand to cerebral dysfunction, anxiety, insomnia, confusion, agitation, abnormal behavior, hallucinations, progressing to delirium. The production of large quantities of saliva and tears coupled with an inability to speak or swallow are typical during the later stages of the disease; this can result in "hydrophobia". Death almost invariably results two to ten days after the first symptoms; the few humans who are known to have survived the disease were all left with severe brain damage, with the recent exception of Jeanna Giese.

The virus has a bullet-like shape with a length of about 180 nm and a cross-sectional diameter of about 75 nm. One end is rounded or conical and the other end is planar or concave. The lipoprotein envelope carries knob like spikes, composed of Glycoprotein G. Spikes do not cover the planar end of the virion. Beneath the envelope is the membrane or matrix (M) protein layer which may be invaginated at the planar end. The core of the Virion consists of helically arranged ribonucleoprotein. The genome is unsegmented linear antisense RNA. Also present in the nucleocapsid are RNA dependent RNA transcriptase and some structural proteins.

You've generally got about fourteen days after exposure to get your PEP shots before the infection hits your brain so try and get out for some medical treatment, or else you'll turn into a hippie freak and infect the whole town.

from Wikipedia