Penile hyperexcitability with recurrent ejaculations as the presenting manifestation of a case of rabies

Abstract

A patient with rabies presented with penile hypersensitivity and recurrent ejaculation. This preceded the more classical manifestations such as hydrophobia and aerophobia by approximately 8 hours. A review of the literature reveals that a variety of urogenital symptoms may rarely occur in rabies. Ours is however the first report documenting the occurrence of these symptoms at the onset of the disease in an autopsy proven case of rabies. Damage to the amygdaloid nucleus has been postulated to be the basis of these urogenital symptoms. This correlates well with our autopsy findings of extensive neuronal damage and Negri bodies in the temporal poles. © The Fellowship of Postgraduate Medicine, 1988.