Posted on 01/15/2018 3:03:11 PM PST by nickcarraway
6-year-old Ryker Roque passed away in an Orlando hospital, his father said Monday
A 6-year-old Florida boy who was undergoing experimental treatment after being diagnosed with rabies has died.
Ryker Roque passed away in an Orlando hospital, his father said Monday.
Roque had been undergoing the treatment, called the Milwaukee protocol, after he was scratched by a bat. His father, Henry Roque, had found the sick bat and put it in a bucket, telling his son not to touch it.
"So, apparently he put his hand in there and touched it and he said it only scratched him, so I frantically googled it real quick and it says to wash his hands with soap, hot water for five minutes," Henry Roque told NBC News.
When Ryker complained of numb fingers and a headache a week later, he was rushed to the hospital. Ryker was put into a medically induced coma, forcing his body to create its own specialized antibodies to fight off the illness.
The treatment has only worked twice in the U.S. and 18 times around the world.
Years ago, my aunt told me of one of her neighbors who had traveled to India on vacation and was bitten by a rabid dog. She opted to wait on treatment as she was to go to Australia in a few days. From what I remember, there has never been rabies in Australia of the indigenous animals and there was no treatment available. She didn’t get treatment in time after that and came back to the states and passed away shortly afterwards.
Yes, exactly. I remember when one of my sons had a panic attack over getting a booster shot; he was about 9, iirc. I sat on him and said, “Stick him!”
LOL
You go mom!
These parents must have been of the "safe space" variety.
I am not a believer in Darwin's theory except as it is applied to daily survival.
Idiots and their children don't live long.
“When Ryker complained of numb fingers and a headache a week later...”
So the father was an idiot. Sorry to say this, but it’s true.
Rabies is treatable.
“I wonder why this kid was not administered the RPEP.”
Read the article: “When Ryker complained of numb fingers and a headache a week later,”
Just stupid and negligent.
Wow! That was fast!
I was bitten by a rabid fox in 1992. I’ll tell you right now, I wouldn’t have cared if those needles felt like a thousand molten knives.
Better than the alternative.
“If you tell a 6 year old “don’t do this,” what do you expect him to do?”
I expect him to not do it.
(I’m realistic enough to remove anything dangerous because while I expect him to mind, I know reality).
There was one summer that I had three different experiences with bats.
The first time I was kind and I caught the thing and let it go.
The next two times I was brutal to the little mosquito eating rodents. I figured I could buy some Off. They don’t belong in the house. I leave them alone in their home.
A tennis racquet is a nice tool for bat removal.
Sad story, but your last line made me crack up at loud!
“From another article, it seems that the dad didn’t take the kid in for treatment until he had symptoms.”
That’s actually in the excerpt here.
As a parent and grandfather my heart breaks at this story. Prayers up for this little boy and his family.
No kidding.
You don’t listen and get “scratched” by the bat, there are consequences. Six is old enough to get that message.
Atten Parents of young kids: Print this article and share it with your kids as a lesson of what happens when you disobey.
The first person who was successfully treated under that Milwaukee Protocol was a young girl who found a dead bat. She touched it, handled it briefly. Became ill, disoriented some time later and only then did doctors connect her symptoms with her finding a dead bat. Last I read, she’s recovering well in the years since that happened, but she still has complications. She’s not 100% as well as before the bat incident.
My family has had two exposures. Articles say wash for five minutes and seek medical treatment. Not just wash.
Sorry to hear this.
Very sad for the loss of a young life plus the terrible guilt and remorse that the father will carry with him for the rest of his life.
About two years ago my teenage son bumped into a hanging plant and a bat flew out, slightly grazing my son near his eye. I did some research on line and was comforted that only 2 percent of bats in our area carry rabies and even then the chance of a transmission from this slight contact is real but slim. When I factored in a 100% fatality rate in the event of a transmission, however, the decision to take him to the ER was easy. He was given a course of rabies vaccine which is definitely indicated in even a casual contact of this nature.
Because the father is a f***ing idiot who thought soap and water would combat a rabid animal bite.
I have used a tennis racquet several times when a bat got into the attic. Works just fine.
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