Very sad.
Minor point—I thought that rabies had a long incubation period. The poor kid was affected in a week.
I wonder why this kid was not administered the RPEP.
There has never been a recovery without it (to my knowledge).
Why didn’t the dad take the bat to Animal Control to get it checked?
Why didn’t the dad just call his doctor and tell her what happened?
Take your child to the hospital and get the shots! (Yes, I’ve had to go through the series)
What article said to treat a possible rabies exposure with soap and water for five minutes?
Tragic. The boy didn’t want to get the shots. His parents were “kind” to him because they wanted to spare him the pain, so they didn’t insist on him getting the shots.
I did some online research into rabies. The virus can take from one to three weeks to show symptoms in your body. Depends on where the point of entry is. If it’s on the hand, it takes less time for the virus to reach the brain than if it’s on the leg, as in a dog bite on the leg.
How sad. At least he was unconscious and didn’t suffer from the symptoms before he died.
That kid should have been taken to the emergency room PDQ. Just handling a rabid animal without protection is reason enough.
Standard protocol for possible exposure to a rabid bat is to start human rabies vaccination immediately!
from the CDC:
A person who is exposed and has never been vaccinated against rabies should get 4 doses of rabies vaccine - one dose right away, and additional doses on the 3rd, 7th, and 14th days. They should also get another shot called Rabies Immune Globulin at the same time as the first dose.
Another kid who didn’t listen to his father and died as a result. Another father who will be second guessing himself for the rest of his life.
The father should have taken the boy for immediate medical treatment at an ER or clinic. The doctor or ER would have reported it immediately to Public Health and started immediate rabies shots. That is standard procedure in cases where there’s any possibility of contact with a rabid animal or even an animal that, say, bit you but the animal can’t be located for rabies testing.
“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.
Wow! That was fast!
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.
As a parent and grandfather my heart breaks at this story. Prayers up for this little boy and his family.
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.
A week hardly seems long enough for the virus to reach a dangerous level.
The incubation period for rabies is 3 to 10 weeks. Involved animals are often observed for 10 full days to determine if they are infected before human treatments are started.
Sorry dad was an idiot
Any ER doc would have started that kid on rabies shots
The biggest drawback to the treatment these days is the astronomical markup by the hospital. Prophylaxis isn’t cheap, but it beats the hospital costs (I’ve seen reports of up to $40,000 a person for the series from a hospital).
And what kind of person would even think of putting the bat anywhere - except a hole in the ground? Well, that dad will have the rest of his life to consider his stupidity. Tough and sad but you can’t fix stupid!
I got bite by a bat and had to get the shots. No side affects from the bite but goth chicks started to look good to me. I missed an infusion appointment once and the next day the police called me. That is how serious it is.