High School Boy Infected With Rabies Fights For His Life

I'd try to come up with a pun or something to put in here, but . . . this isn't funny. This boy could die, and take others with him if he did expose them and they go untreated.

Yoikes! Bookmarking for follow-ups.

An Humble High School sophomore died this afternoon, eight days after being hospitalized for a rabies infection believed to have been caused by a bat.

Zach Jones died about 4:55 p.m., according to Texas Children's Hospital, where he had been in an induced coma for several days.

Doctors were treating Jones with a similar combination of sedation and antiviral drugs that helped cure a Milwaukee girl in 2004. The girl, Jeanna Giese, is the only known unvaccinated survivor of a rabies infection.

This evening, the hospital issued a statement announcing Jones' death: "The family wishes to express its thanks to the community for their prayers and support."

Hours before, his fellow players on the Humble Wildcat team spent the end of their practice in tearful prayers, still holding out hope before school was out that a miracle would happen and he would live.

"We were told he had only hours left. But nobody wanted to believe it," said Daniel Tatman, 16, one of the players.

Students dressed in white to show solidarity for him today. Many had his photo pinned to shirts, along with slogans urging the community to pray for the blonde blue-eyed teen, that some liked to call "z-man."

Throughout their son's hospitalization, his family has declined to comment and has asked friends not to discuss the boy's care or condition with the news media.

Because of the rarity of human cases ?- about three cases occur each year in the United States; about 55,000 annually worldwide ?- Jones' case has attracted national attention and hundreds of prayers and well-wishes from across the country.

According to family and doctors, Jones became ill last Thursday, several weeks after awaking from a nap and finding a bat in his bedroom. The boy may not have realized he had been bitten and the family did not seek medical attention afterward.

Health experts say that because bats' teeth are so small and sharp, a person could be bitten and not realize it. Officials with Harris County Public Health and Environmental Services and the U.S. Centers for Disease Control have urged anyone who comes in physical contact with a bat to seek medical attention immediately.

About 30 of Jones' classmates and friends at Humble High School, where he was a football player, have been recommended for vaccinations as a precaution. His girlfriend was reported to have begun the series of shots.

Rabies is a viral disease that affects the central nervous system as it travels to the brain. It is transmitted by the bite of an infected mammal.

Most people afflicted with rabies begin showing signs of illness one to three months after being infected. Early symptoms include irritability, confusion, headache, fever, hallucinations and itching or pain at the sign of the bite.

Once symptoms appear, the disease, which attacks the nervous system, is nearly always fatal within a week.

ah. well.

The lone known case of an unvaccinated person surviving rabies ?- a 15-year-old Wisconsin girl in 2004 ?- had given the Jones family and friends a ray of hope, particularly after it was learned the boy's doctors were treating him with a combination of drugs and sedation similar to that used to treat her.

But Texas Children's Hospital spokeswoman Ann Brimberry said Friday that the Wisconsin girl, Jeanna Giese, is thought to have had a different strain of rabies than Jones. Additionally, the boy's infection had progressed further than Giese's had by the time he was hospitalized.

- quote from Houston Chronicle

sad.

I thought it was unusual for bats to bite humans. What was unique about this boy, that he attracted rabid bats? His scent?

I don't understand sleeping before an unscreened open window, for a variety of reasons.

Isn't that the thing about rabies - that the animals act out of their norm?

How did the neighbor see the bat and get there to shoo it away?

I don't know, exactly, but the neighbor saw the bat hover above the boy's face and shooed it out of the house.

The following advice is only relevant to areas with endemic rabies.

Only 0.5% of bats carry rabies. However, of the very few cases of rabies reported in the United States every year, most are caused by bat bites. Although most bats do not have rabies, those that do may be clumsy, disoriented, and unable to fly, which makes it more likely that they will come into contact with humans. Although one should not have an unreasonable fear of bats, one should avoid handling them or having them in one's living space, as with any wild animal. If a bat is found in living quarters near a child, mentally handicapped person, intoxicated person, sleeping person, or pet, the person or pet should receive immediate medical attention for rabies. Bats have very small teeth and can bite a sleeping person without necessarily being felt.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bat

What would happen if the bat bites a dog? Assume, the dog's been immunized against rabies. Would the dog eat the bat?

You'd have one pissed off dog and one ex-bat, I'd imagine!

Bloody hell! This seems so weird to read, living in the UK. Bats that bite humans? Rabies?

The only thing that comes in our open windows at night is rain.


Well, the odd burglar here and there, I suppose.

bats
the CDC suggests that if you are bitten by a bat , you catch the bat and bring it in for testing !!!
good luck , i say !
a number of years ago , a bat was found in the mailroom of our office when the mailclerks came in in the morning .
one of the fellows tried to catch the bat , the bat bit him and escaped through the open window ...
in those days the rabies vaccine was still pretty old-fashioned : three injections into the deep-muscle tissue of the belly ... not very pleasant ... the fellow never touched a bat again.
btw here along the shores of lake ontario the main rabies problem is with skunks , foxes and the like . every spring the ministry of natural resources has a program of distributing vaccine laced cubes of meat in areas known to have rabies exposure . th idea is to vaccinate as many wild animals as possible to prevent rabies from spreading .
there is also a "catch-and-release program" , were animals are caught , vaccinated and released .
hbg

www.cdc.gov/ncidod/dvrd/rabies/bats_&_rabies/bats&.htm

( url doesn't seem to work on this address)

Bats can transmit rabies subclinically, they can just be carriers but not always be sick.

Martin Cruz Smith wrote a book about bats and rabies that was quite a creepout, a bunch of years ago. Forget the name of it. I tend to like his writing. (not that I want to promote giving bats a bad name - still, one should be aware, I guess.

After you catch the bat, where're you supposed to put it? Paper bag
or a "Bat Cage"?

rabies
"...After you catch the bat, where're you supposed to put it?..."

tuck it under your arm ???

hbg