A Groundhog.....see happens here all the time

[MomObvious]

Stories like this pop up where I live all the time. A groundhog tested positive for rabies. That's right a groundhog.....I'm sure it came from a faster moving animal. Yet, there are lots and lots of people who do not get rabies vac, just a stupid move if you live here.

http://www.wavy.com/dpp/news/local_n...ive-for-rabies


Melissa

[Soushiruiuma]

When you say there are "lots of people who don't get rabies vaccine", do you mean for their pets, or for themselves? I don't believe rabies vaccination is recommended for humans unless there is the possibility for exposure (bite, bat in house, etc.)

[MomObvious]

I meant their pets I'm a dope sometimes. My daughter and I were talking about this did people with rabies go crazy and attack people like animals do???? Just wandering...


Melissa

[Soushiruiuma]

I meant their pets I'm a dope sometimes. My daughter and I were talking about this did people with rabies go crazy and attack people like animals do???? Just wandering...


Melissa

They die. And if not diagnosed quickly hospital staff and family are in danger of being infected. Rabies is present in saliva, which is produced in great quantity when an infected person or animal tries to drink water (this is what causes "foaming at the mouth"), so if the person in hospital is agitated and saliva gets into someone's eye or on an open wound transmission can occur.

Rabies symptoms can include hallucinations, and spasms or seizures, all of which make a rabies infected person potentially dangerous and unpredictable.

[MomObvious]

I guess that is why some people get treated, as a precaution if they have been bitten by an "unknown" animal. I knew rabies was deadly but I did not realize how quickly, it could happen. Makes you wonder what happened to people 100's of years ago......

Melissa

[Soushiruiuma]

I guess that is why some people get treated, as a precaution if they have been bitten by an "unknown" animal. I knew rabies was deadly but I did not realize how quickly, it could happen. Makes you wonder what happened to people 100's of years ago......

Melissa

Actually the incubation time varies, up to 2 years after the transmission occurs before symptoms begin. Getting the rabies vaccine is a good idea if you've had contact with a questionable animal. Once symptoms start there's one person who survived without brain damage (a child), a few other cases where the person survived but had brain damage, but mostly deaths.

[MomObvious]

Wow interesting, I guess since we live with rabies cases I never though how scary rabies could be. Two years after transmission??? Seems like that would have been hard for doctor's to figure this out...oh man. Another reason I'm glad I live in 2012 instead of 1812

Melissa