People refusing rabies vaccine.

[Nevilledog]

Link to tweet

https://www.livescience.com/rabies-deaths-cdc-report


*snip*

Rabies is caused by a virus that infects the central nervous system, and typically spreads through a bite or scratch from a rabid animal, according to the CDC. PEP is nearly 100% effective at preventing the person from developing rabies before symptoms appear; once symptoms appear, rabies is almost always fatal, according to the statement. About 60,000 people receive the shots in the U.S. each year to prevent rabies, according to the statement.

"We have come a long way in the United States towards reducing the number of people who become infected each year with rabies, but this recent spate of cases is a sobering reminder that contact with bats poses a real health risk," Ryan Wallace, a veterinarian and rabies expert in CDC's Division of High-Consequence Pathogens and Pathology, said in the statement.

In the U.S., about 70% of rabies cases involve exposure to rabid bats. Two of the three cases reported in the fall were "avoidable exposures," according to the statement. In one case, a patient picked up a bat with bare hands and in the other, they were exposed to a bat roost in their home. Two of the patients released the bat without having it tested for rabies.

One patient did submit the bat for testing, and the bat tested positive, but the patient didn't receive PEP because of a fear of vaccines, according to the report. The other two patients didn't realize the risk because they either didn't notice a bite or scratch, or they didn't realize bats could carry rabies.

*snip*

[dchill]

1. No worries! Once you've had it, you have natural immunity!

**NB - I am NOT a scientist.**

[paleotn]

8. Natural immunity to everything.

Of course you can't move around much and begin to really stink after a few days.

[mercuryblues]

22. Who would refuse a

temperature controlled home in a quiet neighborhood.

[Solly Mack]

2. My head hurts now.

[IrishAfricanAmerican]

12. No shit.

This madness seems to be beyond hope.

[PTWB]

3. Folks who willfully refuse lifesaving vaccines do not belong in the gene pool.

[Shermann]

4. It used to be 21 shots to the abdomen

While still dubious, you can sort of empathize with any resistance to going through that.

But as I understand it, that is no longer the case.

[Ace Rothstein]

5. It is a series of shots, I think 4, over a period of weeks.

My wife went through it a few years ago after a bat flew at her while running outdoors.

[jmowreader]

7. There's also a rabies vaccine for humans, like they have for animals

It's a three shot series: the second is given seven days after the first, and the third three weeks after the second.

They don't give it to everyone because it's really expensive, but if you live in a place that has a lot of rabies risk or you're something like a veterinarian who could be exposed to the disease in your line of work, your doctor can get it for you.

[Kali]

17. yep

in the arm, had them in 2020. skunk in the house bit me, didn't break skin but bit my son and did break blood. he got the immunoglobulin too. rest of house got vaccinated.

around $2K per person if I recall. had to fight insurance to pay for it.

[Shermann]

21. Skunk in the house?

I've had frogs, snakes, mice, wasps, and racoons in the house or attic. But never a skunk. That would suck!

[Kali]

25. this place is pretty much just an open camp from April to October

[JanMichael]

13. We had possible exposure 8 years ago. It was 6 shots.

Like the Macarena. Shoulders, thighs, shoulders. Hurt but better than 100% odds of death if we had contracted rabies.

[Shermann]

14. It's interesting that the vaccine also appears to be the treatment

That's not the case with Covid.

[JanMichael]

16. It's kind of odd that rabies has a way out with a vaccine.

And covid does not. That's not exactly true but the vaccine isn't treatment it's prevention for covid.

And the vaccine is supposed to last for a good long time for rabies. Or somewhere up to seven to 10 years in humans.

I think spelunkers use it a lot and veterinarians too. I was thinking about a rabies booster before covid hit...

[Kali]

19. rabies is a very slow moving virus

you build the antibodies from the vaccine before it can travel to the brain.

[Spider Jerusalem]

23. The virus travels along the peripheral nervous system to the brain

if you get bitten by a rabid dog on the toe, without a vaccine you may live a few months; get bitten in the face by a rabid bat, and you may die in a few weeks because the virus doesn't have to travel as far. (Still time for a vaccine to work, though!)

[Shermann]

24. Interesting! nt

[Crunchy Frog]

28. One of my sons got the shots after an encounter with a bat in the driveway when he was 7.

Apart from the multiple vaccine shots, he got an immunoglobulin shot in each thigh. The treatment was a combination.

Apparently with smallpox it could be successfully treated with a vaccine after exposure, but before symptoms appeared.

[Kali]

18. had it in summer of 2020

3 shots in arm, no pain or problems whatsoever.

[JanMichael]

20. Sounds like they're bringing the shot numbers down over time.

Pretty soon it might just be one shot. That'd be pretty cool.

[GoneOffShore]

35. Got bitten by a squirrel in Petersburg VA in the early 50's.

There was a rabies epidemic in Richmond among the squirrel population, with the little buggers leaping out of trees and biting people.

I had the full 21 shots, which hurt like hell. Fourth or fifth time, I kicked the nurse across the room. I was about 6 at the time.

[paleotn]

6. Darwin rules. You! Out of the gene pool!

[milestogo]

9. My dog tried to refuse, but I overruled him.

Your body, but not your choice.

[OnDoutside]

10. Bat bit crazy....

[FakeNoose]

11. The most common wild animals to have rabies are raccoons, bats, skunks, coyotes and foxes

When a human is bitten or scratched by a rabid animal the virus most likely will pass to the human. It becomes fatal for the human victim even if the animal doesn't die from the disease.

Rabid bats are all over the US, while raccoons carrying rabies are mainly in the Eastern Seaboard states. Rabid skunks are throughout the Midwestern states and parts of California. Rabies infected foxes are seen in parts of Alaska, AZ and NM. The only state where no rabies has been reported is Hawaii.



CDC link: https://www.cdc.gov/rabies/location/usa/surveillance/wild_animals.html

[burrowowl]

30. Thanks for link

[Buckeyeblue]

15. Bats worry me the most

They are huge carriers and easy to come in contact with. I know they are a necessary part of nature but they make my skin crawl.

[USALiberal]

26. Vaccine is about $2000

[LetMyPeopleVote]

27. You never touch a bat

I remember the lectures we gave to our boy scouts. You never touch a live or dead bat but need to call animal control

[Meowmee]

29. Sad that they were so ill informed etc.

At least they would be unlikely to transmit it to others unlike what is happening with covid. I was possibly exposed by one of my outdoor cats 2-3 years ago. I quarantined him and he was ok, so I did not seek rpep. He had had one vaccine but it was just expired. I read a lot about this at the time, it was very stressful. The new rpep is rabies immunoglobulin injection to the wound site and then a series of shots. It is much better than the older injections to the abdomen etc. but I am still glad a didn't have to do it as the immunoglobulin would have been risky for me. I considered applying to get the vaccines after due to doing rescue work but decided not to and it costs a fortune as well.

Only 7 people worldwide are known to have survived rabies once the virus was incubated and central nervous system symptoms started. A doctor who developed a new treatment and saved a young girl's life by putting her in an induced coma and giving anti viral and other treatments which may have included the vaccine as well, said he believes about 25% of people exposed to rabies fight it off and develop antibodies and never get to the point of central nervous system symptoms. A study in Peru of people who lived near caves/bats found some people who had no known exposures and rpep who had rabies antibodies.

I have read about other rabies deaths in the past 2-3 years. A young boy in FL died after a bat exposure. His father brought home a sick bat and left it in covered bucket. He told his son not to touch it and of course he did and was bitten. They did not bring him to get treatment even after he told them that the bat had scratched him. 2-3 weeks later he became very ill and died in hospital with confirmed rabies.

[Hassin Bin Sober]

31. A friend of mine brought her dog to the Veterinarian after the dog injured his paw

She mentioned to her veterinarian in passing the dog nipped her hand while she was trying to examine the injury.

Well the dog’s rabies shot was not up to date.

Apparently, in Cook County, if an unvaccinated dog bites a person the dog must be quarantined under the care of a veterinarian for 10 days. (A vaccinated dog can be quarantined at home)

The veterinarian wanted, iirc, $400 bucks a day. He also told her if she didn’t surrender the dog he would send the sheriff to her home.

Yikes.

She ended up finding a vet that would do it for like $200 bucks a day. Still an expensive lesson.

[Meowmee]

32. Yes there are similar laws here

Never tell your dvm or a doc anything like that unless you are knowledgeable about it. Her dog could have been quarantined at home safely imo, since he was already vaxed before. That was terrible to take advantage of the situation and threaten her. But that is the law here for cats too I think as I recall.

I had to go to a doc for the bite- he told me it was ok, cats don’t have rabies here, there have been a very few though in my county, 2 I think, but stray totally un vaxed cats and they did not transmit it to anyone. He rx antibiotics etc. but the idiots at the desk made me fill out a form for the hd and I was terrified they would come and take all of my outdoor kitties. I wrote on it he was vaxed and they never called. What you do is observe them for 14 days, isolated in a cage, and wear gloves etc, minimize exposure possibilities. They can only transmit it in saliva within 3-6 days of being symptomatic, at which point they die very soon after. Fortunately he was fine, no rabies, but he did have c difficile I found out later and it took months to heal him. He is a total love bug now and indoors.

[634-5789]

33. This is GREAT NEWS! Thin out the morons!

When these self proclaimed scientists have all the answers and leave this mortal coil, I could not be happier. The least amount of morons, the better, IMHO.

[EastMeetsWest]

34. When I was 9 years old,

I rode my bicycle to the "country", which was just outside the city limits in those days, just beyond the elementary school where my mom taught at. There were no leash laws for "country" dogs, at least in those days. Suddenly, a dog ran up to me, and bit me on the butt. I was afraid to tell anyone, because my brother had just gone through a series of painful rabies vaccinations, and I didn't want to go through that. 53 years later, and I'm still alive. And I'm still alive 45 years after refusing the swine flu vaccine in 1976. I also had a bat go up my jacket while spelunking in Missouri in 1979. And I'm still here. But that's just my experience-- I wouldn't try to talk anyone out of getting vaccinated if they had the same experiences.