‘Patients snarl like dogs’: Reality of dying from rabies

Health chiefs today sounded the alarm after a British woman died of rabies, contracting the fatal disease from a scratch by a stray puppy in Morocco. 

Grandmother Yvonne Ford, 59, from Barnsley, South Yorkshire, became ill two weeks ago and steadily deteriorated until her death this week.

Her daughter, Robyn Thomson, 32, a neo-natal nurse, paid tribute to her mother—known as ‘Bon’—in a moving post, and urged others to treat even the tiniest scratch with caution.

Rabies, which is passed on through injuries such as bites and scratches from an infected animal, is nearly always fatal. 

After an infection, the symptoms can take up to a year to appear. 

But when they do appear, the disease is a swift and brutal killer. Most patients die in a few days. 

Research has even suggested people can lose ‘bodily control and rationality’, with historical records showing some who contracted rabies from dog bites ‘snarled like dogs’ and ‘barked’. 

Here MailOnline reveals exactly how the dangerous illness takes hold. 

Initial symptoms may appear similar to the flu, with later signs including a fever, headache, nausea, agitation, difficulty swallowing and excessive saliva.

But as it travels through the nerves and spinal cord up to the brain—through the central nervous system— inflammation of the brain or brain swelling, develops.

Jeanna Giese, now 35, is the first person known to have survived rabies without receiving the rabies vaccine—a feat considered impossible before her case in 2004. 

She was bitten by a bat at the age of 15, before suddenly developing symptoms three weeks later. 

Speaking to the Guardian in 2023, she said: ‘I started feeling unbelievably tired.

‘A few days after that, I could not get out of bed, had double vision and was vomiting uncontrollably. Soon I became unresponsive.’

It was only by receiving a novel treatment called the Milwaukee Protocol, that she survived.

This involved doctors putting her into an induced coma to suppress brain function and prevent the deadly build-up of inflammation by giving her antiviral drugs. 

After two weeks she was taken out of the coma and spent the following two years in recovery where she learned to walk and talk again.

Others, however, have not been so lucky and suffer hallucinations or even paralysis once the virus takes hold.

According to the World Health Organization (WHO), paralytic rabies accounts for around a fifth of all human cases. 

Muscles gradually become paralysed, starting at the site of the bite or scratch. A coma slowly develops and eventually death occurs. 

Last year, Brazilian health officials also reported that a man had died from rabies after the disease left him with fatal brain inflammation.

The 56-year-old was bitten by a monkey and three weeks later began to experience vomiting, drooling and fainting. 

Within a week, he was diagnosed with encephalitis—meaning his brain had swelled and despite treatment, died a fortnight later.

Writing in The Conversation, one Canadian historian also told how patients with rabies historically also lost ‘bodily control and rationality’.

Professor Jessica Wang, an expert in US history at the University of British Columbia, said 19th century newspapers ‘frequently described those who contracted rabies from dog bites as barking and snarling like dogs, while cat-bite victims scratched and spat’. 

Hallucinations, ‘respiratory spasms and out-of-control convulsions’ were also common symptoms recorded, she added. 

It comes as UK health officials today revealed a British woman has died of rabies after contracting the fatal disease in a scratch from a stray puppy in Morocco.

In a separate Facebook post, her daughter Robyn Thomson said: ‘Our family is still processing this unimaginable loss, but we are choosing to speak up in the hope of preventing this from happening to others.

‘Yvonne Ford, Ron Ford’s wife and our Mum, died of rabies. She was scratched very slightly by a puppy in Morocco in February.

‘At the time, she did not think any harm would come of it and didn’t think much of it.

‘Two weeks ago she became ill, starting with a headache and resulted in her losing her ability to walk, talk, sleep, swallow. Resulting in her passing.’

She added: ‘We never thought something like this could happen to someone we love. Please take animal bites seriously, vaccinate your pets, and educate those around you.

‘She was the heart of our family—strong, loving, and endlessly supportive. No words can fully capture the depth of our loss or the impact she had on all of us.

‘We are heartbroken, but also grateful for every moment we had with her. Rest peacefully, Bon. You’ll always be with us.’

It is understood Ms Ford was diagnosed with the disease at Barnsley Hospital.

An inquest into her death opened this morning at 9am at Sheffield Coroners’ Court, which her daughter attended. It has since been adjourned.

There have been less than 10 cases of human rabies associated with animal exposures abroad reported in the UK since 2000.

However, the UKHSA today stressed there was ‘no risk to the wider public’ given there is ‘no documented evidence of rabies passing between people’.

The last death caused by rabies in a UK animal—other than bats—was in 1902. 

Dog licensing, euthanasia of stray dog and quarantining were credited with killing off the virus.

Western Europe is now considered low risk for the disease by the WHO, while countries in Eastern Europe are listed as ‘moderate risk’ and African and Middle Eastern countries are ‘high risk’.

Popular tourist destinations like Egypt, Tunisia, Morocco and Turkey all carry a high risk of dogs transmitting rabies to people.

Dr Katherine Russell, head of emerging infections and zoonoses, at the UKHSA said: ‘I would like to extend my condolences to this individual’s family at this time.

‘If you are bitten, scratched or licked by an animal in a country where rabies is found then you should wash the wound or site of exposure with plenty of soap and water and seek medical advice without delay in order to get post-exposure treatment to prevent rabies.

‘There is no risk to the wider public in relation to this case.

‘Human cases of rabies are extremely rare in the UK, and worldwide there are no documented instances of direct human to human transmission.’

Today, it is possible to save a patient who has contracted rabies if they can begin treatment before the virus enters their immune system.

The course of treatment for rabies is four doses of the vaccination for rabies and human rabies immunoglobulin (antibodies) applied over a 21-day period.

The last recorded rabies death in the UK was in 2018, when Omar Zouhri, a 58-year-old kebab shop worker, was bitten by a cat while visiting family in Mehdya, Morocco. 

An inquest in Oxford heard that Mr Zouhri had contracted rabies on August 31 2018, but it was not until as late as October 28 that ‘the die was cast’ when he started to report symptoms of ‘furious rabies’.

This included itching, pain and muscle twitches—which showed the virus had already entered his central nervous system, rendering treatment ineffective.

Mr Zouhri, from Aylesbury in Buckinghamshire, died in hospital in Oxford on November 4, 2018.