Posted on 05/10/2006 6:41:54 PM PDT by wjersey
A Texas teenager bitten by a bat while he slept in his Houston area home was in critical condition with rabies in a local hospital on Wednesday, health officials said.
The high school sophomore awoke from a nap four weeks ago to find a bat had apparently flown in an open window in his home, said Harris County Health Department doctor Herminia Palacio.
"What we have is a history of the child waking up from a nap in his room and seeing a bat in the room and having felt the bat brush against him," she said.
The boy did not know he had been bitten, which Harris County veterinarian Dawn Blackmar said was not unusual because bats have "very, very tiny" teeth.
The bat was captured and thrown out the window, news reports said.
The boy began feeling ill last week, was taken to the hospital and diagnosed with rabies. He was being treated, but Palacio said the chance of survival was poor. Ten people in the United States have died of rabies since 1998, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, or CDC.
"Once a person becomes ill, there's really no effective treatment. Clinical illness with rabies is almost universally fatal," Palacio said.
Symptoms can range from flu-like fever and headaches to anxiety, delirium and hallucinations, the CDC said.
Bats, which wildlife experts say are beneficial animals because they consume large quantities of insects, are prevalent at this time of year in Texas because they are migrating north after spending the winter in Mexico, Palacio said.
Ping your Houston FReepers.
Prayers for this young man. Let us pray for a miracle.
I covered a story of a little girl in Centralia Washington who was bitten by a bat while sleeping in her room about 10 or 12 years ago. She contracted rabies and could not be saved. It was very sad, but there is not cure. I was told then that a high percentage of bats carry rabies.
Why not the Wisconsin protocol for treatment of the rabies infection? It was used two years ago and the young girl survived with very little brain damage.
What a sad story. To the best of my knowledge only two people have survived rabies once symptoms begin to appear. One is in Atlanta about forty years ago and I believe the other was somewhere on the West Coast in the last several years. I don't believe they ever determined what happened that allowed them to live--albeit with considerable damage.
I guess you've heard about the three cases of rabid bats here in the Austin area by now. We have bats at our shop, and I tell my people to stay away from them if they see one on the ground.
There was a case recently where someone did survive rabies. It may have been the first time someone has.
Human immune system has a potential to battle rabies
A unique medical case mesmerized doctors worldwide. According to Healthtalk.com, a 15-year-old female from Wisconsin survived rabies without receiving the rabies vaccine.
http://newsfromrussia.com/science/2004/11/25/57275.html
Jeanna’s treatment used on two others:
Only five people besides Jeanna are known to have survived rabies after the onset of symptoms, but they received the standard treatment of a series of vaccine shots or had previously been vaccinated. About 55,000 people die each year from rabies, mostly in Asia and Africa, and only a few in the United States.
http://www.wisinfo.com/thereporter/news/archive/local_21451786.shtml
Actually, many people survive rabies but the cure is difficult. Many years ago my brother was bitten by an ocelot. He was treated for rabies with one serum, then another.
He survived but there was no indication that he ever had rabies. This is true of most rabies patients.
Yeah, blame the bat.
There was a girl who recently survived rabies .....to do so they had to put her in a coma to try and protect her brain (extreme yes, but the only choice they had). She survived, but she came out with some physical problems. Last I heard they were teaching her to walk all over again.
Bats, which wildlife experts say are beneficial animals because they consume large quantities of insects, are prevalent at this time of year in Texas because they are migrating north after spending the winter in Mexico,
More immigrants eh.
Just biting the children american bats won't bite.
That would have been the vaccine. If it is given before symptoms appear, then there is little chance of developing rabies. Once symptoms appears, the vaccine is useless and the chances or survival are almost zero.
I saw a bat in a high school basketball game once swoop wildly around the crowd. A policeman killed the bat and picked him up with his bare hands.
Take that crap elsewhere.
Prayers for this kid and his family.
What a strange thing to happen.
The rabies vaccine only works if it is administered before symptoms appear. There are very few people who have survived rabies after symptoms have appeared.
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