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Wed 10 May, 2006 05:52 pm
By JENNIFER LEAHY and LEIGH HOPPER
Copyright 2006 Houston Chronicle
An Humble High School sophomore infected with rabies is fighting for his life as federal and county disease investigators try to determine how many of the student's classmates may need preventive treatment, a school official said today.
The teen, apparently bitten by a rabid bat as he slept four weeks ago, is being treated at Texas Children's Hospital with the same combination of drugs credited with saving the life of a 15-year-old Milwaukee girl in 2004, his family said. That patient, Jeanne Giese, is the only known unvaccinated rabies survivor
Reportedly, a neighbor saw the bat hovering above the victim's face, caught it with a towel and threw the bat back out of the open window.
The student began showing symptoms Thursday, according to Humble ISD executive director for public information Karen Collier.
Once rabies symptoms appear, the disease is nearly always fatal. The only survivors of the disease have received rabies vaccine before they became ill. Health officials are concerned the student, a football player, may have unknowingly exposed others to the disease.
Collier said the student's girlfriend is receiving preventive treatment. Preventive treatment consists of a series of shots given in the arm as soon as possible after exposure may have occurred.
Harris County Public Health and Environmental Services is investigating the case, said spokeswoman Sandy Kachur. She said the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has been contacted about the case.
Collier said that students on the football team or in classes with the victim would be notified first. The district also plans several informative seminars, in both English and Spanish, for students and parents. Dates and times have not yet been determined.
Human rabies cases in the United States are rare. Three cases that occurred in 2002 probably resulted from unnoticed bat bites, the CDC said.
"The patients either did not notice the actual events that exposed them to rabies or judged them as too insignificant to be of any consequence with regard to the possibility of causing rabies infection and forgot about them," the CDC said in a report.
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.
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
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