On Saturday at the university's emergency room I was injected with the rabies immune globulin, along with the first dose of vaccine. Second vaccination yesterday. No symptoms so far, except for an urge to bite someone.*
*the technician who read the DFA of the bat's brain tissue as "indeterminate," thus necessitating the treatment regimen.
Ow. That's no fun.
ReplyDeleteWe'll have to start calling you Die FlederStan.
Take care.
What sort of exposure qualifies the caution to check? Bites, scratches?
ReplyDeleteCDC guidelines are that ANY physical contact whatsoever requires the same treatment as a bite or scratch.
DeleteI didn't have any (known) physical contact, but my wife and I slept in a room where a bat was flying the next day, with an unknown time of entrance to the room, so in theory exposure by inhalation or contact while asleep. We later found the bat lying unmoving in the middle of the living room floor, which is odd behavior. I would like to believe that it wasn't sick, but had been swatted out of the air by one of our cats, but since rabies is near the bottom of my list of preferred ways to die, we opted for the immune globulin and vaccination.
DeleteBetter to be safe I suppose, you can't know if it was on you or on bedding while you were asleep.
DeleteShould we be concerned that rabies is even on your list of preferred ways to die?
DeleteFrom CDC - "Other contact by itself, such as petting a rabid animal and contact with blood, urine, or feces of a rabid animal, does not constitute an exposure and is not an indication for postexposure vaccination."
ReplyDelete"In instances in which a bat is found indoors and there is no history of bat-human contact, the likely effectiveness of postexposure prophylaxis must be balanced against the low risk such exposures appear to present. Postexposure prophylaxis can be considered for persons who were in the same room as a bat and who might be unaware that a bite or direct contact had occurred (e.g., a sleeping person awakens to find a bat in the room or an adult witnesses a bat in the room with a previously unattended child, mentally disabled person, or intoxicated person) and rabies cannot be ruled out by testing the bat. Postexposure prophylaxis would not be warranted for other household members."
so, no, not any physical contact, and "considered" isn't the same as "required"
ReplyDeleteNot any *known* physical contact.
Delete"Postexposure prophylaxis can be considered for persons who were in the same room as a bat and who might be unaware that a bite or direct contact had occurred (e.g., a sleeping person awakens to find a bat in the room"
Given that the health status of bat is undetermined and that rabies is, with very few exceptions, a fatal disease, it's not unreasonable for those in this situation to undergo PEP.
Oh, dear. Getting rabies vaccine injections does not sound like a way I would want to spend my spare time
DeleteOuch! Are the injections still terribly painful? I had a neighbor who underwent treatment in the 60s, and he said the shots were the most panful things he had ever experienced. For you sake, I certainly hope it's not painful any more.
ReplyDeleteNot particularly painful. The expenditure of time and funds is more painful that the injections with the needles.
DeleteNot cool. Stay healthy!
ReplyDeleteTake care.
ReplyDeleteOh dear ... Been there done that, here at The Grange... http://moretons-myth.blogspot.com.au/2011/09/hindsight-is-good-thing.html
ReplyDeleteAt least it will confer immunity for a while so you can safely play with bats in the future.
You know, if you get rabies vaccine, it also quashes the urge to build really neat cars and weapons, and go to a big city to fight crime. Just sayin'. Hope you come through okay!
ReplyDeleteYikes! Hope you're not affected other than the time, expense and pain around the injection site! Keep smiling, MinnesotaStan!
ReplyDeleteThe pain is like nothing. Apparently the new vaccines are way better in that regard than the historic ones. Fear them not.
Deletehuh. i touched a bat's ear while it was sleeping last week. it was kind of a case of is that a real BAT?
ReplyDeletebut it continued to sleep more or less peacefully and i thought better of bothering it.
should i have consulted a doctor?