如果你覺得自己接觸了狂犬病,那該做些什麼?
Maybe you're more concerned about mosquitos, spiders, or other seasonally relevant creepy crawlies, but if your summer travel plans could involve encounters with stray dogs or flapping bats, it's better to be safe than sorry and learn a bit about rabies, too.
也許你更擔心蚊子、蜘蛛或其它季節性的令人毛骨悚然的爬行動物，但如果你的夏季之旅有遇到流浪狗或蝙蝠的可能性，那最好還是瞭解一些關於狂犬病的知識。Yes, foam-at-the-mouth rabies-and no, it's not just a thing of zombie movies. Luckily, rabies is quite rare in the United States today: Just 23 human cases of rabies have been reported since 2008, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).
是的，口吐白沫的狂犬病--但這並不只是一部殭屍電影。幸運的是，狂犬病在美國非常罕見：自2008年以來，只有23起狂犬病病例，疾病預防與控制中心表示。But it still can't hurt to be prepared. Health spoke with Aaron Glatt, MD, chairman of medicine and a hospital epidemiologist at South Nassau Communities Hospital in Oceanside, New York and a spokesperson for the Infectious Diseases Society of America, to find out more about rabies symptoms, diagnosis, and treatment-but let's hope you never need it.
但如果不加以防備，仍會帶來傷害。《健康》雜誌對話艾倫·格拉特醫學博士（紐約歐申賽德南拿騷社區醫院的醫學主任和醫院流行病學家、美國傳染病學會的發言人），以期瞭解更多關於狂犬病症狀、診斷和治療的信息--但願你永遠都用不到。
What is rabies?
什麼是狂犬病？Rabies is a virus typically transmitted via the bite of a rabid animal. "You have to have exposure to an animal that has the disease," Dr. Glatt says; you can't just come down with rabies. However, it doesn't have to be a full bite, he cautions. A scratch from an animal with rabies, or even a rabid animal's saliva getting into an open wound, could pass the virus to you, he says.
通常，狂犬病是一種通過狂犬動物咬傷而傳播的病毒。"必須得接觸患有該疾病的動物，纔會感染，"格拉特醫生說道；你不會無緣無故的得狂犬病。然而，不一定非得咬傷了纔會感染，他警告稱。狂犬動物劃傷你，或者它的唾液滴到了你的傷口上，也會傳遞病毒，他說道。While most people associate rabies with bats or raccoons, transmission to humans is usually linked to dogs. Unlike in the U.S., many other countries have large populations of strays, Dr. Glatt says, some of which may be infected.
雖然很多人將狂犬病與蝙蝠或浣熊聯繫在一起，但人類患狂犬病通常與狗有關。與美國不同的是，其它很多國家有大量的流浪狗存在，格拉特醫生說道，有些或許受到了狂犬感染。Ferrets, skunks, foxes, coyotes, and even woodchucks are also on the list of animals that can spread rabies. "People are often concerned about rats and mice, but they never have rabies," Dr. Glatt says, and neither do squirrels.
雪貂，臭鼬，狐狸，土狼，甚至土撥鼠都可能傳播狂犬病。"人們經常擔心老鼠，但它們從未患過狂犬病，"格拉特醫生說道，松鼠也是一樣的道理。Rabies symptoms
狂犬病症狀It's not always as obvious as a foaming mouth that an animal has rabies. Sometimes an animal may simply not be acting like itself, Dr. Glatt says. That's why you should seek medical attention after any bite from an animal if you aren't sure about that animal's rabies or vaccination status.
如果動物患有狂犬病，它們通常不會口吐白沫。有時，它們可能表現得不像它們自己，格拉特醫生說道。所以動物咬了你之後，如果你不確定它是否患有狂犬病或不清楚它是否打了疫苗，那就儘快尋求醫療幫助。
