Rabies

It often begins inconspicuously. A strange tingling at an old wound. An unease that cannot be grasped. Then come fever, restlessness, fear. And finally those states that gave rabies its name: raging episodes, cramps, hypersensitive senses, hydrophobia, an aggression that the afflicted person no longer recognises in themselves. The person loses language. The person loses control. At the end, only the affect remains — pure, unfiltered force.

Medically, rabies is a viral infection of the nervous system, transmitted through the bite of an infected animal. It is one of the few pathogens that attacks the brain itself, hijacks the control centre of behaviour, and drives the person into a state where they lash out like a wounded animal. Without timely treatment it is almost always fatal — and belongs therefore among the oldest, most archaic terrors of humanity.