Posted on 02/22/2012 6:50:22 PM PST by HiTech RedNeck
The parents of a U.S. soldier who died from rabies after being bitten by a dog in Afghanistan are accusing the Army of “criminal negligence” in his death, the Army Times reported Wednesday.
(Excerpt) Read more at usnews.msnbc.msn.com ...
Not to nit-pick, but that sounds as if it is leading cats. Herding cats is something else.
“Typical” of someone who is staring down a death by rabies?
Why are deathbed identifications of a killer usually considered to be reliable?
When a Dallas hospital gave some of its patients rabies, it didn’t take them nearly that long to die.
Maybe they came up with a more efficient way than by dog bite?
He must have been a goner anyway./s
I remember a few years ago, a Mexican child was cured of rabies by placing it in an oxygen chamber. I think a high pressure oxygen chamber.
I recall a “rabies survival” story that was from something like Readers’ Digest. The victim, as the story would have it, often does not succumb to anything other than asphyxiation, and if ventilation can be maintained it is possible in principle for the rabies infection to run its course and be overcome by the body and the victim recovers (though certainly with a nightmare experience). I don’t know how to evaluate such claims. I’m not a doctor. Maybe two docs and a vet might know more.
"The period between infection and the first flu-like symptoms is normally two to twelve weeks, but can be as long as two years." - Wiki
And how did he die 8 months after the bite? Is rabies that slow to act?
“The rabies virus travels to the brain by following the peripheral nerves. The incubation period of the disease is usually a few months in humans, depending on the distance the virus must travel to reach the central nervous system.”
I’m guessing he must have been bitten on the extremities, and maybe the partial treatments slowed the progression of the virus as well.
I would like to see you herd cats with a can of salmon- lead them- oh yea anywhere but herd them? I can imagine if you were behind a herd of cats with salmon pretty soon you wouldn’t be able to move for all the circling cats. Laughing just thinking about that. Now my toddler grandaughter can herd cats with the best of them, she toddles into a room with cats and they head ‘em up move ‘em out real fast.
In that case, they got rabies from organ transplants from a man who had died of rabies. So the virus, in its final, most deadly stage, was transplanted into the interior of their bodies, where it surely found a much quicker path to the brain than it normally does working its way in from the a break in the skin.
My 2cents worth:
Pre-exposure vaccinations are more effective at protecting than post-exposure, although NO vaccination is 100% effective. Nothing in a biological system is 100% safe or 100% effective. Call it genetic diversity or whatever, not everyone responds to vaccines as well as we might hope.
I received pre-exposure vaccination in 1976, and when exposed to a laboratory confirmed rabid dog in 2010 I had my titer checked and it was still “protective” -— I have a GOOD immune system. One person in my Veterinary School class who took the exact same vaccinations as I did had no significant titer even after receiving the full series.
The most important thing is to report any bite and to seek treatment ASAP. The vaccination is racing against the virus to see which one will “win” in the body and produce protection or disease. However, many people have heard horror stories about “21 shots in the stomach” and are afraid to report an exposure because they do not want to undergo the “treatment” they have heard about. Even IF it were still the ancient 21 shots in the stomach treatment, that would still be FAR better and MUCH less painful that suffering and dying of Rabies!!!
It is my understanding that the most recent Rabies survivors -— two, I believe -— were placed in a medically induced coma and were maintained in that state for an extended period of time while their brain healed, with a variety of life support modalities used. Even so, these were a lucky two, and there is still no “cure” for Rabies once the virus is established in the body.
It is my understanding that many vaccines have full potency beyond the label expiration date, but the manufacturer has tested and provided “proof” out to only that certain date post-manufacture. And, as far as using expired vaccine -— which I would personally agree to use on myself until something else became available IF that was indeed what was on hand -— I provide these quotes and citations:
“Since a law was passed in 1979, drug manufacturers are required to stamp an expiration date on their products. This is the date at which the manufacturer can still guarantee the full potency and safety of the drug.
Most of what is known about drug expiration dates comes from a study conducted by the Food and Drug Administration at the request of the military. With a large and expensive stockpile of drugs, the military faced tossing out and replacing its drugs every few years. What they found from the study is 90% of more than 100 drugs, both prescription and over-the-counter, were perfectly good to use even 15 years after the expiration date.”
http://www.health.harvard.edu/fhg/updates/update1103a.shtml
“Can the expiration date of a vaccine be extended?
The expiration date of a biological product may be changed pursuant to 21 CFR 610.50, which states, in part, that the date of manufacture shall be the date of initiation by the manufacturer of the last valid potency test. Under 21 CFR 610.53 (b), the dating period for a product shall begin on the date of manufacture, as prescribed in section 610.50. A valid potency assay is required prior to an extension of dating. The expiration date is based on the last valid potency assay. Any decision made to extend the dating period of a vaccine is predicated and sustained by the data submitted by the manufacturer that verifies the sterility and potency of the product. If the manufacturer can assure FDA, through sound scientific data, that the product is still sterile and potent even after the recommended dating period then (on a case-by-case basis) extending the dating period on the label will be permitted.”
http://www.fda.gov/BiologicsBloodVaccines/SafetyAvailability/VaccineSafety/ucm133806.htm
Who cares if you herd from behind or in the middle as long as you keep them together and get them safely to where they need to be?
How do you possibly get into a screw-up that grand?!? I could see it happening in Tibet. But it happened in what, Texas?
You do have a point!
They did not realize the man had died of rabies, and I guess that is not something they screen organ donors for.
“Why did the donor die” you’d think would be the first question to be asked.
I think he was elderly, so they probably just got sloppy and assumed natural causes.
It makes no sense that the Army wouldn’t have rabies vaccine in an environment where there is a large feral/pariah dog population, of which few if any animals have been vaccinated for rabies. I think there are some flies in this story’s ointment.
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