Rabies virus is the most lethal virus. Neuroinvasive rabies is a death sentence. I cannot stress this enough: if you have any physical contact with a bat—especially a bite—get treatment immediately. If it gets into your central nervous system, you will die horribly. www.sfgate.com/bayarea/arti... - ThreadSky

angierasmussen.bsky.social • 93 days ago

Rabies virus is the most lethal virus. Neuroinvasive rabies is a death sentence.

I cannot stress this enough: if you have any physical contact with a bat—especially a bite—get treatment immediately. If it gets into your central nervous system, you will die horribly.
https://www.sfgate.com/bayarea/article/california-teacher-bat-bite-death-19949458.php?utm_medium=twitter&utm_source=sfgate

Comments

bexrousse.bsky.social•93 days ago

They spared her and her family some truly horrifying experiences by putting her into a medically induced coma.

feynmanbro7.bsky.social•93 days ago

Rabis is the only virus with like a 100% mortality rate

jenelaina.bsky.social•93 days ago

It's like 99.9% now, a small handful have survived. In any case odds are INCREDIBLY not in your favor so get treatment.

https://www.aaas.org/taxonomy/term/9/surviving-rabies-now-possible

https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/jeanna-giese-rabies-survivor/

gearoidmm.bsky.social•92 days ago

This paper is cool. Estimates that only 16% humans infected with rabies will develop clinical disease and die. Remainder will develop antibodies and never become symptomatic

https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC7017994/#:~:text=These%20'seropositive'%20individuals%20provide%20possible,not%20led%20to%20fatal%20disease.

gearoidmm.bsky.social•92 days ago

Once you have clinical disease you are doomed but the relatively high seropositive rates in some populations without access to vaccines suggests that many people are infected and recover without ever knowing that they were exposed.

eternallyexploring.bsky.social•93 days ago

My sisters just finished their first semester at Northern Arizona University. They had a bat problem in their dorm and one of their friends woke up with a bat in their bed. Turned out to be rabid. 😯

citlan.bsky.social•93 days ago

“I don’t know if she thought it was dead or what cause it was laying around her classroom and she was trying to scoop it up and take it outside,” Splotch told the outlet. “She didn’t wanna harm it. But that’s when, I guess it woke up...it swooped around a bit and it took off.”

techychik.bsky.social•93 days ago

And do NOT approach wild animals!

stallfortime.bsky.social•91 days ago

That's a lawsuit waiting to happen from every parent with a student in the school

northerngirlnow.bsky.social•93 days ago

Yikes!

tsudhonimh.bsky.social•92 days ago

I knew some bat researchers in Mexico: they were all vaccinated.

Crazy guys, trapping and tracking vampire bats.

queencatia.com•37 days ago

📌

penelopeforce.bsky.social•93 days ago

It seems crazy a teacher of all people was not aware rabies is 100% fatal and any exposure to a bat should be treated. Very sad.

pocketsforsnacks.bsky.social•93 days ago

I honestly think the episode of The Office really did a number of people's misunderstandings of rabies and what we mean by "treatable"

towit12.bsky.social•93 days ago

art teacher, mind

steveisdamages.bsky.social•93 days ago

Fuuuuck. What a ghastly way to go, too.

olliehman.bsky.social•93 days ago

Credible source - noted !

angierasmussen.bsky.social•93 days ago

Some bat enthusiasts claim that bats are magically impervious to viruses, but this is not true. While clearly some species of bats can tolerate infections that cause disease in other species, they do get virus infections. Some viruses—like rabies—do make bats sick & kill them.

angierasmussen.bsky.social•93 days ago

While bats’ host responses to viral infections are fascinating & studying them may yield insights into pathogenesis & leads for new antivirals, bats are not virus proof & anyone claiming otherwise is wrong.

Take bat exposures seriously. DO NOT fuck around with rabies virus.

aesch3.bsky.social•92 days ago

I love bats -> such stories make me sad (vaccinated re bats,foxes,coyotes,skunks,raccoons)

carissamcqueen.bsky.social•93 days ago

I thought only Bites were danger. Many years ago I caught & held a wild bat in Death Valley & it was SO COOL (i was 8). Is that level of exposure risky? Basically, if I accidentally pet a bat (no plans to do this), do I need to seek medical care or is it only if a bit licks, bites or scratches?

andymeiman.bsky.social•87 days ago

Unfortunately the exact type of exposure ie, bite vs non-bite is often not specified in many of these reports. They are also rare - the last MMWR report of a rabies death was from 2018. It’s also amazing that ppl are still unaware of the ways one can get rabies.

piltdownwoman.bsky.social•93 days ago

The thing with bats is that they’re so small, you can be bitten without knowing you’ve been bitten.

carissamcqueen.bsky.social•93 days ago

😧 duly noted!!!

apetivist.bsky.social•93 days ago

I'm glad you weren't bitten!

lucasaurelius.bsky.social•93 days ago

A year or two ago, a man died of rabies after he removed a bat from his home. It never bit him, but licked his finger. But this is NOT a reason to fear or abuse bats. They are vital insectivores.

dev-in-pnw.bsky.social•92 days ago

Yes!

pensivekitty.bsky.social•93 days ago

Is there a reason we don’t get vaccinated regularly against rabies? I know it’s well controlled or rare in a lot of countries, but given it’s 100% lethal and hard to know sometimes if we got bitten/scratched, why not just vaccinate? Especially since more and more pet owners are anti-vax 🤦🏻‍♀️

noneofyourbusyness.bsky.social•93 days ago

The population that is regularly exposed to wildlife or shelter pets are more likely to get vaccinated but still it can have a cost barrier. The incidence rate is still very low so it isn't included with our other vaccine schedule. If numbers went up, it may become recommended.

circusnurse.bsky.social•93 days ago

Well, if the pet owners are anti-vax for their dogs, what makes you think they’re going to vaccinate themselves?

Also, the rabies vaccine is incredibly expensive—I got it in 2010 and it was over $900 for the 3-series prophylaxis, can’t imagine what it is nowadays.

(I used to be a veterinary nurse)

pensivekitty.bsky.social•93 days ago

I realize now that I forgot to factor in the price for it in other areas, the rabies vaccine is quite cheap in Europe…

circusnurse.bsky.social•93 days ago

I'm glad to hear that--and I know it's fairly well controlled outside of the US. Unfortunately, I live in an area where it's endemic and carried by many species including deer, raccoons, and feral cats, as well as bats and it's even been found in cows! 😱

skye-akimbo.bsky.social•93 days ago

The rabies vaccine is extremely expensive and requires a series of timed injections. It would be hard to coordinate that kind of mass vaccination event, even if the general public were interested in receiving such a thing.

pensivekitty.bsky.social•93 days ago

Ah, it’s quite cheap in Europe, so I wasn’t thinking about the price aspect of it, tbh…

skye-akimbo.bsky.social•93 days ago

American healthcare for the win 🤦‍♀️

aaltomm.bsky.social•93 days ago

Exactly. Even if you don't see/feel a bite you should get the vaccine. Immediately.

drjengunter.bsky.social•93 days ago

Did she not get vaccinated after?

angierasmussen.bsky.social•93 days ago

She didn’t know about the risk. She thought she scared the bat and didn’t realize it was sick. When the bite didn’t get infected, she went about her business and didn’t realize anything was wrong until more than a month later. Really tragic.

coquinegra.bsky.social•93 days ago

OMG
We found 2 bats in our building last year (in the daytime), and I literally had to remind my colleagues about rabies. I'm sorry for this woman.

valociraptor.bsky.social•92 days ago

I know that if you EVER get bitten by a bat or a fox or a random animal, especially if they had no reason to bite you, you should receive the rabies vaccine IMMEDIATELY.

arctostaphylos-r.bsky.social•93 days ago

I can't find any evidence that she received the rabies vaccine.

“Bites from bats can be incredibly small and difficult to see or to detect,” CDPH Director Dr. Tomás Aragón said in the news release. “

Maybe she didn't realize she had been bitten, so never sought care?

okayrobot.bsky.social•92 days ago

This is something I’ve been thinking about lately. Why isn’t this something that we can just go to our doctors to get? I take my cats yearly, why can’t I do the same? I was bitten by a foster cat before they were vaxed and my doctor declined to let me get the shot. Why is it so difficult to get one?

snnsx.bsky.social•93 days ago

Dying of Rabies is one of the most horrible ways to go.

dremilyrsmith.bsky.social•92 days ago

Relatedly, @repamibera.bsky.social introduced the Affordable Rabies Treatment for Uninsured Act in 2022 after being bit by a rabid fox on Capitol Hill.

No movement yet, while uninsured and underinsured Americans make tough choices.

https://www.npr.org/2022/09/29/1125732515/rabies-treatment-cost-legislation

takemusu.bsky.social•92 days ago

My wife touched a 🦇that was on our 🚪. We weren’t sure that she wasn’t bitten, called the dr right away. She was referred to the ER where she got the full series of 💉. Those are free in WA state even w/o insurance. I asked the dr how often he gives rabies 💉. About once a week, one dr, one hospital.

jthomasalbert.bsky.social•92 days ago

SOME DUMB-ASS TALKING TO ME ABOUT VIRUSES DURING THE PANDEMIC: "Viruses don't want to kill their host. How would they survive?"

ME: "Viruses don't 'want' anything. they're technically not even living things. Also, rabies kills 100% of untreated victims and has been around over 4,000 years."

savitchspoon.bsky.social•93 days ago

If I recall correctly over 40 000 people worldwide die of rabies every year.

clegra.bsky.social•93 days ago

Thank you! (Also @aberlejudith.bsky.social )

abbyannv.bsky.social•93 days ago

I had bats in my attic but no exposure. I spoke to my town public health nurse and a state epidemiologist who told me you can capture (or get animal control to capture) a bat and send it for rabies testing before getting shots. I can NOT imagine doing that myself.

towit12.bsky.social•93 days ago

Rabies testing involves cutting its head off, just fyi

abbyannv.bsky.social•92 days ago

They just said that the sample needed to be fresh. I’d just be afraid to try to handle it.

bluedymoos.bsky.social•93 days ago

I've heard you should get the rabies shots even if it's just a scratch from a bat. It's one of those diseases you can't be too careful with.

timnfeinstein.bsky.social•93 days ago

Many bats have little razor needle teeth that barely leave a mark. You simply don’t know, and there’s no test that can detect rabies before it’s on track to kill you, so always take the precaution.

drninastuder.bsky.social•93 days ago

I got bitten by a bat - and did get rabies shots - but the next day, you could literally not see the marks.

angierasmussen.bsky.social•93 days ago

Yes. If you wake up and there’s a bat in the room, you should get treatment. Some very small bats can bite or scratch without leaving an obvious wound.

tcastanea.bsky.social•93 days ago

I woke up with a bat on my face and my doctor told me I didn’t need treatment because it probably didn’t bite me. I’ve never fired someone so fast. I can’t imagine the possible outcome if I wasn’t knowledgeable and knew to seek treatment anyway.

delightw2023.bsky.social•93 days ago

On your face.. yikes. I woke up to 2 hanging from my ceiling fan above my bed.

tcastanea.bsky.social•93 days ago

I’m a wildlife biologist and I knew exactly what it was when I woke up. I was soooo tired that I brushed it off my face, shouted ‘that was so rude!’ and pulled the blanket over my head.

fractus.bsky.social•92 days ago

I once woke up to a house centipede crawling through my chest hair, and the noise I made was not manly.

delightw2023.bsky.social•93 days ago

Lol, I flipped out just having them hanging off my ceiling fan.

apetivist.bsky.social•93 days ago

I'm glad you knew better!

thebiologistisn.bsky.social•92 days ago

A couple of years ago, I was woken up by a bat flopping on me as it tried to get out my bedside window.

I got the vaccine series.

One morning before my last shots, my throat painfully spasmed when I tried to drink some water. It never happened again, but it was distressing.

thebiologistisn.bsky.social•92 days ago

I interpreted the bat exposure as a rabies exposure after that.

gillmh.bsky.social•93 days ago

😱

kadelsberger.bsky.social•92 days ago

I got the shots this year out of an abundance of caution (cat contact in Thailand) and you wouldn't believe how many friends I talked to who didn't know rabies is fatal!

chimpjen.bsky.social•93 days ago

How awful. I'm so afraid of the prospect of rabies that I can't even bring myself to read this book. A truly terrifying virus.

twy-anishiinabekwe.bsky.social•92 days ago

Oh my god. There were like three or four reported cases of bats with rabies in western WA state this last summer

wyotitania.bsky.social•93 days ago

And if you find a bat in your sleeping quarters, it's important to catch the bat for testing or talk to public health about next steps. Bat bites quickly become practically invisible, and public health usually errs on the side of caution given the potential lethality.

cwilhelm24.bsky.social•93 days ago

The novel "Their Eyes Were Watching God" has a detailed and heartbreaking description of someone perishing from rabies.

anchinya.bsky.social•92 days ago

That book has been written to deliberately accentuate horror, not that rabies isnt horrific, but a more factual account of rabies, its influènce on society and its progression as a disease is "Rabid, a cultural history of the world's most diabolical virus" by Bill Wasik and Monica Murphy

Comments

Posting Rules

Reply