IMPORTANT NOTE: Kindly note that this question is strictly for Dr. Deepu Sebin Sebastian only.

Dear Dr. Deepu,

Greetings and I hope this message reaches you in good health.

I have written previously about my rabies scares. Whilst I have tried to constantly re-assure myself that there is nothing to worry about, there is still one concern that constantly troubles me in my day to day life. I am worrying constantly about the prospect of a long incubation period (several years) and the rabies virus suddenly emerging in my body sometime in the future and taking my life.

It breaks my heart to know I am struggling with such a bizarre and far fetched scenario that came from absolutely nowhere and I feel alone in my battle. The medical system is very poor and unreliable in my area and I feel my problem stems from my ignorance and lack of knowledge in medicine. Hence I kindly ask the following questions specifically:

How often do long multi-year incubation periods occur with the rabies virus? And are there any reassuring medical facts or experience you can share with me? I am kindly requesting you to please be as expressive, thorough and patient with me as possible. I believe that knowledge can be the solution to get me over this hump that I am stuck in. To re-iterate, my issue is fearing a long and undetected incubation period with this deadly virus.

As for my case history, I have come into contact with many feral cats (all seemingly healthy) whilst growing up, and have been playfully scratched and bitten before. My last noteworthy contact was many years ago but again, it is this dreadful incubation period that keeps me going in circles.

Thank you very much for your time, effort, and consideration. I am very grateful for this service and looking forward to your response.

P.S. Since there are two infectious disease specialists, I will send out this question twice to get two opinions for further re-assurance. Just mentioning this in case the question comes up twice.