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Symptoms progress and become more severe as time goes on, which includes cerebral disfunction, anxiety, confusion, agitation, delirium, abnormal behavior, hallucinations, hydrophobia and insomnia.—Amaris Encinas, USA TODAY, 3 May 2024 The other type, furious rabies, can cause hallucinations, lack of coordination, a fear of water — a symptom known as hydrophobia — and fear of fresh air or drafts.—Caitlin O'Kane, CBS News, 27 Sep. 2023 In fact, hydrophobia is such a classic symptom of the disease that early medical experts considered the word synonymous with rabies.—Stephen C. George, Discover Magazine, 3 Oct. 2023 Doctors published a case study in 2018 describing the case of a man who was diagnosed with rabies after experiencing hydrophobia.—Caitlin O'Kane, CBS News, 27 Sep. 2023 Later symptoms include trouble swallowing, fear of water (hydrophobia), paralysis, seizure, coma, and eventual death.—Bill Laitner, Detroit Free Press, 8 Sep. 2018 At that point, a person can show symptoms like confusion, abnormal behavior, hallucinations, insomnia, drooling, difficulty swallowing and hydrophobia, fear of water.—Minali Nigam, CNN, 12 June 2019 Over time, symptoms that are more specific to brain dysfunction appear and may include difficulty sleeping, anxiety, confusion, hallucinations, agitation, partial paralysis, difficulty swallowing, and hydrophobia, a fear of water.—Keith Matheny, Detroit Free Press, 3 July 2018
Word History
Etymology
Late Latin, from Greek, from hydr- + -phobia -phobia
: extreme fearfulness of swallowing liquids that is symptomatic of rabies and results from painful spasms of the throat
In classic cases, there is a fear of drinking liquids, or hydrophobia, despite thirst due to spasm of the throat muscles.—Lawrence K. Altman, The New York Times
Rabies victims at first feel a general malaise and restlessness, then grow increasingly agitated with painful spasms of the throat. … Soon they cannot drink, which is why rabies has been called "hydrophobia."—Wayne Biddle, A Field Guide to Germs
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