You know how people used the word “rabid” to mean “extreme,” as in, say, “rabid conservative,” “rabid fan,” or “rabid sex drive”?
Well, in the last case it might be more accurate than you imagine.
A 28-year-old woman in India went to her doctor with the symptom of being suddenly and consistently sexually aroused, often with no stimulus. She was sent to the department of emergency medicine at a hospital in Tamil Nadu and died four days later ... of rabies. A bite from a puppy two months earlier had caused the disease.
LiveScience reports that one of the symptoms of rabies is “unexplained hypersexuality, caused by the virus inflaming the brain. Unfortunately by the time this symptom shows up the disease is incurable.” (Fear of water— due to the inability to swallow— is another symptom.)
Rabies has been largely forgotten as a health concern in the U.S. due to effectiveness of vaccination programs, but globally between 55,000 and 70,000 people a year die from it, Peter Costa from the Global Alliance for Rabies Control told LiveScience; and dogs are responsible for 99% of human rabies cases. People think they’ll only go to the doctor if they have symptoms, but by then it might be too late, so, Costa says, “If you’ve been bitten or suspect you’ve been licked or scratched by an infected animal you should seek treatment within 24 hours.”
So, being rabidly sexy is definitely not as much fun as it sounds.
Well, in the last case it might be more accurate than you imagine.
A 28-year-old woman in India went to her doctor with the symptom of being suddenly and consistently sexually aroused, often with no stimulus. She was sent to the department of emergency medicine at a hospital in Tamil Nadu and died four days later ... of rabies. A bite from a puppy two months earlier had caused the disease.
LiveScience reports that one of the symptoms of rabies is “unexplained hypersexuality, caused by the virus inflaming the brain. Unfortunately by the time this symptom shows up the disease is incurable.” (Fear of water— due to the inability to swallow— is another symptom.)
Rabies has been largely forgotten as a health concern in the U.S. due to effectiveness of vaccination programs, but globally between 55,000 and 70,000 people a year die from it, Peter Costa from the Global Alliance for Rabies Control told LiveScience; and dogs are responsible for 99% of human rabies cases. People think they’ll only go to the doctor if they have symptoms, but by then it might be too late, so, Costa says, “If you’ve been bitten or suspect you’ve been licked or scratched by an infected animal you should seek treatment within 24 hours.”
So, being rabidly sexy is definitely not as much fun as it sounds.
My mom always accused me of being hypersexual...