Human Rabies Infection Case in S. Carolina

[Winston Smith]

From Reuters/Yahoo:

South Carolina has first human rabies case in 50 years

CHARLESTON, South Carolina (Reuters) - A middle-aged woman in South Carolina has contracted the state's first case of human rabies in more than 50 years, health officials said on Friday.
"There are only about one to three cases of human rabies each year in this country," said Dr. Eric Brenner, epidemiologist with the state Department of Health and Environmental Control's Bureau of Disease Control.
"Tragically, rabies almost always ends in death," he said in a statement.
Brenner said health officials believe the woman likely was bitten by a bat that entered her home a few months ago.
"The rabies virus travels slowly through the body until it reaches the brain and central nervous system and produces serious initial symptoms including headache, difficulty swallowing, seizures, anxiety, agitation and confusion," he said. "Most patients die within a few weeks after the onset of these symptoms."
Federal medical privacy laws prevent the department from releasing any more information about the patient or her condition, said Health and Environmental Control spokesman Jim Beasley.
The woman lives in Sumter County, in the middle of the state, officials said.
Bites from rabies-infected bats are one of the most common way humans are exposed, Brenner said. Raccoons, foxes, skunks and other wild animals, as well as unvaccinated dogs and cats, can transmit rabies through their saliva into a bite wound.
South Carolina law requires all dogs, cats and ferrets to be vaccinated against the rabies virus.
The agency said it will investigate to determine if anyone else might have been exposed to the virus. Person-to-person transmission of rabies has not been documented, with the exception of special circumstances in medical settings, Brenner said.
The last cases of human rabies in South Carolina were in December 1959, when an elderly Florence County man was bitten by a dog, and in March 1958 when an elderly Clarendon County woman was bitten by a fox, Beasley told Reuters.
(Editing by Colleen Jenkins and Greg McCune)

http://news.yahoo.com/south-carolina-first-human-rabies-case-50-years-002703958.html

[lailr]

Love that, it's close to me

[Finch]

kinda sad that someone is going to die



that said.... OMG ZOMBIES

[bigmattdaddywack]

kinda sad that someone is going to die

Yes it is and a painful death at that.

[Finch]

kinda sad that someone is going to die

Yes it is and a painful death at that.

yep watching a loved one die slowly, losing metal capacity while there is noting you can do has got to be horrible. especially over something that seems fairly minor and may have been months ago.

[duodecima]

Horrible disease. There is just a tiny tiny glimmer of hope - 6 people have survived it since 2004. Here's the more readable Wikipedia summary and here's a good technical description. (Which is pretty interesting/freaky reading for us zombie-interest types...)

The first girl to survive has actually graduated from college. Still, a 3/25 survival rate is good only when compared with the previous 0/ever.

[bigmattdaddywack]

I plan on beginning to trap next year. I want to do it for survival training (I read a lot of Ragnar Benson and his ideas make a lot of sense). I guess I wont be releasing too many wild animals.

[Winston Smith]

I'm wondering why animals can get vaccinated for rabies, but people can't(or if we can, why we aren't doing it...)

[raptor]

People can get vaccinated for rabies. Vets and animal care workers get them all the time. Rabies can be treated if the vaccine is administered soon enough. It is 99.9% fatal if left untreated but treatment even late in the game can (but may not) be effective.

If you are exposed to animals you should have a a rabies vaccination.

[shrapnel]

We can, but it's pretty damn expensive. We don't usually vaccinate for it (in non-animal contact populations, ie, people who are not vets or animal control or similar types of professions) because the exposure rate, and more so the number of people who then go on to contract the disease, is so very low (in the US, I mean).

[raptor]

Two excellent threads on rabies for those interested in preparing for it.


viewtopic.php?f=31&t=48362

http://zombiehunters.org/forum/viewtopi ... =6&t=71004