The United States has now recorded its first death from a vampire bat bite, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
On July 29, 2010, a young Mexican migrant showed up to work at a Louisiana sugar cane plantation. He worked one day and then complained of fatigue, shoulder pain and numbness. By August 3 he’d been sent to a New Orleans hospital.
When he developed a fever and an elevated white blood cell count, doctors thought he might have encephalitis, or maybe meningitis. He didn’t. Doctors tested for HIV, syphilis, herpes, arboviruses, Lyme disease, autoimmune neuropathies and all came back negative.
Meanwhile, the 19-year-old was deteriorating. When he had trouble breathing, doctors placed a tube down his throat to help.
Despite “True Blood’s” Louisiana setting, nobody thought of vampire bats because there are no vampire bats in the United States outside of zoos. But the young man had only just arrived in the United States. As an investigation later discovered, he had been bitten on the heel of his foot on July 15 while sleeping back home in Michoacán, a state in Mexico’s southwest.
The bat had transmitted rabies, a common complication from vampire bat bites in central and South America. Doctors did begin to suspect rabies — and the state’s public health office was duly notified, but it wasn’t until August 20 that rabies tests came back positive. He died on August 21.
Every person who had been in contact with him had to be found and notified. Some who had shared drinking vessels with him, for example, could have caught the disease. But according to CDC, so far there is no evidence anybody did.
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/44112941/ns/health-health_care/
Showing posts with label rabies. Show all posts
Showing posts with label rabies. Show all posts
Thursday, August 18, 2011
Friday, June 10, 2011
Wild Beavers Terrorize Philadelphia
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Wikimedia Three people were bitten by a rabid beaver last week in Philadelphia before the animal was killed -- and game wardens remain stumped about the "truly bizarre" attacks. |
PHILADELPHIA – Pennsylvania game wardens remained stumped Sunday about a spate of "truly bizarre" rabid beaver attacks in and around Philadelphia.
Three people were bitten by a beaver last week in Pennypack Park in the city's northeastern section before the animal was killed and officials determined it had rabies, according to MyFoxPhilly.
A married couple was fishing on Wednesday when the large beaver bit the woman's leg, then turned on her husband and bit him in both arms and on his chest, the Pennsylvania Game Commission said.
On Thursday, a child was bitten in the same park. A short time later, a park ranger located the beaver nearby. That animal was killed and tested positive for rabies at a Health Department lab. Game wardens are looking through the park for other beavers that could be infected.
Park officials were baffled by the location of the attacks and the fact that the mammal was a beaver -- not a raccoon or skunk.
"It's not that beavers are not susceptible, as all mammals are susceptible, to rabies," said Game Commission spokesman Jerry Feaser. "But a beaver in Philadelphia, that was just truly bizarre."
Another rabid beaver attacked an angler in late April on White Clay Creek in the Chester County suburbs of Philadelphia. Feaser said the attacks are the only such cases he recalls during 12 years with the commission.
"Our furbearer biologist, when he heard about this, he was just literally blown away," Feaser said.
The state Agriculture Department, which investigates rabies cases, fielded no reports of rabid beavers in 2009 or 2010.
Pennsylvania normally has between 350 and 500 confirmed rabies cases annually. Last year slightly more than half the cases were raccoons, followed in frequency by skunks, cats, bats and foxes. The state's most recent rabies fatality for humans occurred in 1984, when a 12-year-old Lycoming County boy died.
As a precaution, Game Commission officials continue to encourage residents to avoid the Pennypack Creek waterfront area between Bustleton Avenue and Roosevelt Boulevard in northeast Philadelphia.
Read more on Philadelphia's beaver battle at MyFoxPhilly.com.
http://www.foxnews.com/scitech/2011/06/06/wild-beavers-terrorize-philadelphia/
Monday, February 21, 2011
Animal protection statute threatened, says veterinarian
February 20, 2011
Veterinarian Yesenia Fernández Santos spoke out in favor of the newest animal welfare law Friday, saying it was a far reaching legislation which only needs to be understood better.
However, she said an animal registry is necessary to protect people and animals from the threat of rabies. The registry has been an unpopular measure which also must be explained before it can be effective, she said.
Law 154 — known as the Law for the Welfare and Protection of Animals — signed by Gov. Aníbal Acevedo Vilá in August 2008, is considered the best animal protection law to date.
Fernández testified in a public hearing of the Senate Natural and Environmental Resources Committee which was considering eliminating the 2008 law and integrating it into yet another proposed law.
Senate Bill 1811, introduced by Sen. Melinda Romero, would eliminate Law 154 and two earlier ones. The bill would create the Welfare Code for Animal, Wildlife and Flora and supersede the laws of Regional Animal Refuge (Law 36 of 1984), the New Wildlife Law (Law 241 of 1999) as well as Law 154.
Fernández said that Law 154 should not be included in Bill 1811, because a law of such length would become diluted within the measure, she said at the hearing presided by Sen. Ramón Díaz Hernández substituting Chairwoman Luz M. Santiago González.
“The deficiencies of that statute have nothing to do with the content of the law, but rather with the limited knowledge of the law, on the part of the general public, the police as well as prosecutors and judges.”
The law covers a number of issues relating to domestic animals, including classing many actions of mistreatment, abuse or abandonment as felonies, with harsh penalties.
Despite her endorsement of Law 154, she suggested in her testimony that the government mount an anti-rabies campaign in the same way they did for dengue and flu.
“Since rabies is a deadly illness and endemic in our country, the veterinarians have been advocating an animal registry for years,” said Fernández. “I am happy to know that this piece of legislature is considering this action. However, I should mention that the way the animal registry has been developed, the people see it as just another tax and not a solution to the problem of rampant animal overpopulation. If we want to change that mentality, we must educate the people about rabies and its implications, as much for the sake of our health as for that of the animals.”
She noted that since the bill provides for the free registry of farm animals, it would be wise to begin with mandatory rabies vaccination for dogs, cats, cows and horses, which are the link between humans and our “principal carrier of rabies, the mongoose.”
The Health Department has long endorsed the need for mandatory rabies vaccines, but have consistently shown figures which indicate that only one or two cases of rabies have among humans have ever been reported in Puerto Rico.
http://www.prdailysun.com/news/Animal-protection-statute-threatened-says-veterinarian
Veterinarian Yesenia Fernández Santos spoke out in favor of the newest animal welfare law Friday, saying it was a far reaching legislation which only needs to be understood better.
However, she said an animal registry is necessary to protect people and animals from the threat of rabies. The registry has been an unpopular measure which also must be explained before it can be effective, she said.
Law 154 — known as the Law for the Welfare and Protection of Animals — signed by Gov. Aníbal Acevedo Vilá in August 2008, is considered the best animal protection law to date.
Fernández testified in a public hearing of the Senate Natural and Environmental Resources Committee which was considering eliminating the 2008 law and integrating it into yet another proposed law.
Senate Bill 1811, introduced by Sen. Melinda Romero, would eliminate Law 154 and two earlier ones. The bill would create the Welfare Code for Animal, Wildlife and Flora and supersede the laws of Regional Animal Refuge (Law 36 of 1984), the New Wildlife Law (Law 241 of 1999) as well as Law 154.
Fernández said that Law 154 should not be included in Bill 1811, because a law of such length would become diluted within the measure, she said at the hearing presided by Sen. Ramón Díaz Hernández substituting Chairwoman Luz M. Santiago González.
“The deficiencies of that statute have nothing to do with the content of the law, but rather with the limited knowledge of the law, on the part of the general public, the police as well as prosecutors and judges.”
The law covers a number of issues relating to domestic animals, including classing many actions of mistreatment, abuse or abandonment as felonies, with harsh penalties.
Despite her endorsement of Law 154, she suggested in her testimony that the government mount an anti-rabies campaign in the same way they did for dengue and flu.
“Since rabies is a deadly illness and endemic in our country, the veterinarians have been advocating an animal registry for years,” said Fernández. “I am happy to know that this piece of legislature is considering this action. However, I should mention that the way the animal registry has been developed, the people see it as just another tax and not a solution to the problem of rampant animal overpopulation. If we want to change that mentality, we must educate the people about rabies and its implications, as much for the sake of our health as for that of the animals.”
She noted that since the bill provides for the free registry of farm animals, it would be wise to begin with mandatory rabies vaccination for dogs, cats, cows and horses, which are the link between humans and our “principal carrier of rabies, the mongoose.”
The Health Department has long endorsed the need for mandatory rabies vaccines, but have consistently shown figures which indicate that only one or two cases of rabies have among humans have ever been reported in Puerto Rico.
http://www.prdailysun.com/news/Animal-protection-statute-threatened-says-veterinarian
Sunday, November 21, 2010
Rabid bat warning issued by Los Angeles health office
Los Angeles county health officials have issued a warning to residents, telling them to be on the lookout for rabid bats.
The Department of Public Health said 21 rabid bats had been found in the county this year so far, twice the number typically found in the region.
Health director Jonathan Fielding said it was unclear why the number of rabid bats had increased.
Rabies is a viral disease that can cause death.
It was important for all residents to "understand the potential dangers posed to themselves and their pets, as most of these rabid bats have been found in and around homes", Mr Fielding said.
He urged residents to keep their children and pets away from bats and other wildlife.
One resident, who was attempting to nurse a bat back to health, was bitten and was treated for rabies, county officials said.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-11801860
The Department of Public Health said 21 rabid bats had been found in the county this year so far, twice the number typically found in the region.
Health director Jonathan Fielding said it was unclear why the number of rabid bats had increased.
Rabies is a viral disease that can cause death.
It was important for all residents to "understand the potential dangers posed to themselves and their pets, as most of these rabid bats have been found in and around homes", Mr Fielding said.
He urged residents to keep their children and pets away from bats and other wildlife.
One resident, who was attempting to nurse a bat back to health, was bitten and was treated for rabies, county officials said.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-11801860
Rabid bat warning issued by Los Angeles health office
Los Angeles county health officials have issued a warning to residents, telling them to be on the lookout for rabid bats.
The Department of Public Health said 21 rabid bats had been found in the county this year so far, twice the number typically found in the region.
Health director Jonathan Fielding said it was unclear why the number of rabid bats had increased.
Rabies is a viral disease that can cause death.
It was important for all residents to "understand the potential dangers posed to themselves and their pets, as most of these rabid bats have been found in and around homes", Mr Fielding said.
He urged residents to keep their children and pets away from bats and other wildlife.
One resident, who was attempting to nurse a bat back to health, was bitten and was treated for rabies, county officials said.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-11801860
The Department of Public Health said 21 rabid bats had been found in the county this year so far, twice the number typically found in the region.
Health director Jonathan Fielding said it was unclear why the number of rabid bats had increased.
Rabies is a viral disease that can cause death.
It was important for all residents to "understand the potential dangers posed to themselves and their pets, as most of these rabid bats have been found in and around homes", Mr Fielding said.
He urged residents to keep their children and pets away from bats and other wildlife.
One resident, who was attempting to nurse a bat back to health, was bitten and was treated for rabies, county officials said.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-11801860
Friday, March 27, 2009
Rabid bobcat walks into bar, attacks patrons
Last Update: 3/26 12:35 pm
COTTONWOOD, Ariz. (AP) -- A bobcat has attacked three people in the central Arizona community of Cottonwood, including two men who were bitten by the animal after it wandered inside a bar.
Officers called to the Chapparal Bar arrived to find the bobcat in the parking lot, where they shot and killed it.
Tests were ordered to determine if the animal was rabid. It wasn't clear how seriously the victims had been wounded.
Cottonwood police say the animal attacked Monday when it scratched a woman who thought she had hit it with her car. Then police got a report of a bobcat acting aggressively toward a woman outside a Pizza Hut.
About 11 p.m. came the call from the bar that a bobcat was inside as patrons climbed atop bar stools to get away.
------
Information from: KVRD-FM, http://www.myradioplace.com/
Copyright 2009 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.
COTTONWOOD, Ariz. (AP) -- A bobcat has attacked three people in the central Arizona community of Cottonwood, including two men who were bitten by the animal after it wandered inside a bar.
Officers called to the Chapparal Bar arrived to find the bobcat in the parking lot, where they shot and killed it.
Tests were ordered to determine if the animal was rabid. It wasn't clear how seriously the victims had been wounded.
Cottonwood police say the animal attacked Monday when it scratched a woman who thought she had hit it with her car. Then police got a report of a bobcat acting aggressively toward a woman outside a Pizza Hut.
About 11 p.m. came the call from the bar that a bobcat was inside as patrons climbed atop bar stools to get away.
------
Information from: KVRD-FM, http://www.myradioplace.com/
Copyright 2009 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.
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