Bitten by Bat?!
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The other day I was climbing in Yosemite (the aid route on Swan Slab), reached into jam the crack and accidently poked a bat in the face. Rightfully so, the poor guy was pissed and scratched and (I think) bit my hand. A nurse who overheard my infant-like scream came over and informed me that even a seemlingly insignfacnt brush with a bat in Yosemite is a serious deal and I needed a Rabies shot/vaccine right away. Overall, the chance of actual transmission is low, but if infected rabbies has a 100% fatality rate. So, I reluctantly cut our weekend trip short to get the shot, much to the dismay of my climbing partners and wallet. |
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Getting the shot was the right course of action, don't ever 2nd guess it. |
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A bat under a flake? Seems pretty normal to me. The bats with rabies would be acting strangely (e.g., flopping around on your lawn during the day). |
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CJC wrote:I had the same thing happen to me and the high mortality rate of rabies convinced me to get the shots. sucked but what can you do? I was told if I had the bat they could test it but I didn't grab it.Yes--the only way to determine if the animal had rabies is to kill it and examine part of its brain tissue. Easy decision for a bat, not so easy when it's your neighbor's dog who bit you. |
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Got scratched by a cat in 1973 in Ankara Turkey as a kid. Looked hard for it but didn't find it so I got 14 shots, one a day in a circle around my abdomen, then a booster a week apart. It sucked. With the high mortality rate I would probably get one as well. Still love cats and bats. |
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todd w wrote: The bats with rabies would be acting strangely (e.g., flopping around on your lawn during the day).Yea - that's what I thought also. But the park nurse said that the incubation time (time between transmission and symptoms) can take weeks even years in some animals. In these cases, the animal would show no obvious signs. I haven't gotten the bill yet, but from what the doctor said the initial shot itself costs several hundred plus. The crappy thing is that you have to go to the ER to get the first one so that adds mucho $$$ to the overall bill. Then you have 5 follow-up shots over the next month. |
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PSH... is not 100% case fatality. There have been 6 recorded instances of people surviving rabies. Look up the Milwaukee protocol. Should've risked it. |
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I wouldn't second guess yourself, better safe than sorry right! |
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todd w wrote:Most people get rabies from cats, not bats.This is not true in the US. Wildlife represents the primary reservoir of rabies in the US and the primary source of rabies strains in confirmed cases. Among the 6,154 reported rabid animals in 2010 bats constituted 23.2% while cats were 4.9%. Raccoons were the highest at 36.5%. avmajournals.avma.org/doi/p… Since 2011 there have only been 29 confirmed cases in the US, which includes those that were exposed in other countries. p.s. Aaron, you did the right thing by getting the shot. |
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Just one shot? From what understand the treatment is a series of shots to pump you so full of antibodies (derived form horse serum) that any virus in your system is destroyed. They are expensive, I've looked into getting the pre-exposure series for research purposes but the cost has been prohibitive. As other people have stated earlier your probably going to be fine, at most bat test positive for rabies ~2% of the time (which could be positively biased by how the bats are selected to be tested). That being said rabies is almost always fatal, and a very bad way to go so is it worth risking it? |
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I was bitten by a bat many, MANY years ago. This was before people knew about vaccines or, indeed, rabies. I was fortunate enough to avoid the disease however before long *OTHER* symptoms developed. Bloodlust, hatred of sunlight, inability to cross flowing water, and of course I no longer cast a reflection. The last one is not a problem as my hair is always immaculately slicked back. |
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Dan Bachen wrote:Just one shot? From what understand the treatment is a series of shots to pump you so full of antibodies (derived form horse serum) that any virus in your system is destroyed.They give you a shot of horse anti serum around the bite, it will only neutralize rabies virus. All the other shots received are a post exposure prophylactic vaccine. The time course of rabies infection is so slow that your body can mount an immune response, become sensitized by the vaccine and clear the virus before it reaches the CNS. |
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@ Paul, Wasn't really stating that it would cure the common cold, but thanks for clarifying |
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Dan Bachen wrote:@ Paul, Wasn't really stating that it would cure the common cold, but thanks for clarifyingSorry, not was what I was trying to imply, I was just saying its one shot of antibodies, the rest is a vaccine. |
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aaron hope wrote:The other day I was climbing in Yosemite (the aid route on Swan Slab), reached into jam the crack and accidently poked a bat in the face. Rightfully so, the poor guy was pissed and scratched and (I think) bit my hand. A nurse who overheard my infant-like scream came over and informed me that even a seemlingly insignfacnt brush with a bat in Yosemite is a serious deal and I needed a Rabies shot/vaccine right away. Overall, the chance of actual transmission is low, but if infected rabbies has a 100% fatality rate. So, I reluctantly cut our weekend trip short to get the shot, much to the dismay of my climbing partners and wallet. Curious who else has been bitten/sctatched by a bat while climbing and if they did or did not get the shot?You have to get the shot. No brainer. If you get rabies, you will die an agonising death. You're lucky you got a single shot. Back in the day (and still in Thailand) you have to get a giant needle in the abdomen, mire than once. |
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Yea, heard the old school shot in the abdomen was rough! But it's still not a walk in the park. I had to get 2 shots in the arm (close to where I was bit) and three in the arse. But I'll take that over rabies any day. |
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fossana wrote: This is not true in the US. Wildlife represents the primary reservoir of rabies in the US and the primary source of rabies strains in confirmed cases. Among the 6,154 reported rabid animals in 2010 bats constituted 23.2% while cats were 4.9%. Raccoons were the highest at 36.5%. avmajournals.avma.org/doi/p… Since 2011 there have only been 29 confirmed cases in the US, which includes those that were exposed in other countries. p.s. Aaron, you did the right thing by getting the shot.In college, I saw a bat presentation from a bio prof who said that the rabies hype was due to the movie "Cujo", and that bats rarely carried. I've wondered because there seems to be differing opinion. It's good to see the actual stats. |
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todd w wrote:A bat under a flake? Seems pretty normal to me. The bats with rabies would be acting strangely (e.g., flopping around on your lawn during the day). All mammals can get rabies. Most people get rabies from cats, not bats. The nurse freaked out because she bought into the same notion that everyone does. How much did the shots cost?From June 2001 through June 2011, there were 28 human cases of rabies in the United States. 20 were bat-related, 5 were dog-related, 1 was fox-related, 1 was raccoon-related, and one was of unknown origin. Three out of the 28 survived. Not all cases were due to bite or other contact with the vector--in 2004, an organ donor (who had been bitten by a rabid bat) and three recipients of his organs contracted and died from rabies. |
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You're supposed to get a shot if you get bit by a bat? Whoops.. |
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Matt Toensing wrote:You're supposed to get a shot if you get bit by a bat? Whoops..Yes, you need to get shot. I love you Old Yeller! |
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There's a nearby hard man that was bitten by a bat |