I’ve been learning some about rabies and learned about rabies causing hydrophobia. This is just a theory, I’m not saying I know anything about this topic to be knowledgeable, but if we could get someone with rabies to not fear water, could they survive?
Unlikely. Rabies kills by infecting brain cells. This means they’re converted into virus factories instead of doing brain things. That also causes swelling as an immune response, which further damages the brain. Both of these result in coma and death. Eliminating hydrophobia and increasing water consumption would not really help treat an infection (at least any more than treating any infection, which is to say, not very much on its own).