Posted on 11/06/2004 6:39:34 PM PST by mhking
NEW BRAUNFELS - Comal County health officials were searching for two teenagers who were seen playing with a sick bat that tested positive for rabies.
The boys were using the bat instead of a bean bag in a game of hacky sack, in which players try to keep a bean bag off the ground by kicking it to each other, Comal County Health Department nurse Karon Preiss said.
The teenagers ran away after a nurse saw them, told them to stop and called Animal Control officers. The bat tested positive for rabies at the Texas Department of Health laboratory.
It was not known if the boys touched the bat with their bare hands or if they were bitten or scratched, the San Antonio Express-News reported Friday.
The rabies virus affects the central nervous system of warm-blooded animals and can be transmitted through the saliva of infected animals.
Rabies can be prevented with a vaccine after initial exposure, but health officials can do little for victims once symptoms set in.
The earliest symptoms often are tingling or numbness in the limb or area where there was a bite, followed by a lack of coordination, agitation, headache, hallucinations and seizures. Eventually, the patient goes into a coma and dies.
Soccer is the only sport worth playing. :) There's a reason the vast majority of the world plays soccer. (What it is...)
This is a common trick by animal rights activist to bust animal abusers by getting them to turn themselves in. The two little jerks should do some sort of public service for the next two years but no heard time. Just in case it's not a trick rabies sucks! hopefully the brats turn themselves in.
As we have learned, the rest of the world is evil. The soccer lobby probably pays them in oil-for-food money to play it. Upper body strength and opposable thumbs are the wave of the future.
Animal abuse is sickening whenever and wherever it occurs. Proof positive that there is a darker side to human nature. Proof positive that, unfortunately, there are no lifeguards on duty at the gene pool of the human race! This may come across as too harsh and "judgmental," - but what the hell!!!
Whoa baby! Aren't there a lot of caves in the New Braunfels area? If so, there are probably many many infected bats.
Boys playing with/torturing a sick bat?? Clearly candidates for the Darwin Award. I sure hope they surface before that stunt kills them!
Sounds like Beavis and Butthead Bathead....
Not quite. Two survivors in all of recorded history...
Reportedly there are around a quarter of a million bats on Allen Parkway here in Houston.
I've seen video that a friend shot of them long before it made the press.
Now some ecofreaks are trying to move them closer to downtown to make it easier for people to see them leave in the evening. Why don't they leave the bats alone? Don't they respect nature? Why must they exploit them for the tourist bureau and downtown bar owners?
Oh well. Actions have consequences. Kick around and play with a sick bat... payback's a b*tch.
LOL!!!!!
Oh well. I guess they are all around. We had a bat in our garage Thursday night.
Looks like some kids need some educating about bats and rabies.
I had the post-exposure series about 11 years ago. It started with several in the butt and then in the arm at 3, 7, 14, 21 and 28 days. No different from any other shots.
They don't give Rabies "shots" in the stomach anymore. The Rabies vaccine (Days 0,3,7,14, and 28), and the Rabies Immune Globulin (given on Day 0) are all given IM (in the muscle) in the arms, butt, and/or lateral thighs.
I am still laughing about the vampire waking up all beat up!!
Seriously, this is good to know.
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