5 ms·

I went on a wikipedia + YouTube walk on human rabies last month, and it is truly terrifying. > The period between infection and the first symptoms (incubation

I went on a wikipedia + YouTube walk on human rabies last month, and it is truly terrifying. > The period between infection and the first symptoms (incubation period) is typically 1–3 months in humans. This period may be as short as four days or longer than six years, depending on the location and severity of the wound and the amount of virus introduced. Initial symptoms of rabies are often nonspecific such as fever and headache. Death usually occurs 2 to 10 days after first symptoms. Survival is almost unknown once symptoms have presented, even with intensive care. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rabies https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rabies Look up YouTube videos of patients if you want to be sad.

cbfrench 5y ago
Cue the random comment that made me terrified of rabies: https://www.reddit.com/r/aww/comments/81rr6f/he_fed_the_cute_trash_panda_and_looked_up_for_a/dv4xyks/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=ios_app&utm_name=iossmf&context=3 https://www.reddit.com/r/aww/comments/81rr6f/he_fed_the_cute...
- weaksauce 5y ago
  less scary than prion diseases like mad cow... imagine eating a burger ten years ago and dying from it. there was a notable case recently where a woman in a lab accidentally pricked her finger a long time ago and died from it. I believe it was in france. thankfully it is fairly rare.
  - throwawayboise 5y ago
    Imagine developing untreatable cancer and dying next year. Much more likely than either prion disease or rabies. You can't go through life afraid of "what if" we are all dead in the end anyway.
    - khazhoux 5y ago
      Chill, friend. He didn’t say he lives in mortal fear of burgers. Just how weird it would be for that tasty burger to kill you a decade later.
  - Notanothertoo 5y ago
    Prions are doubly terrifying because it's not a typical disease. From what I understand it's proteins folding in a different way that come into (the prions can be dead or alive) and the healthy proteins will take on the new form. It's scary because typical sterilization (high heat) for surgery does not work guarantee it and the heat required is not currently practical. The shakes from that cannibals get are prions. I also though I saw a link to a subset of alzehimer cases but can't find it.
    - spazrunaway 5y ago
      Prions are basically immortal. https://www.foodsafetynews.com/2015/06/researchers-make-surprising-discovery-about-spread-of-chronic-wasting-disease/ https://www.foodsafetynews.com/2015/06/researchers-make-surp... "...in 1985 when the Colorado Division of Wildlife tried to eliminate CWD from a research facility by treating the soil with chlorine, removing the treated soil, and applying an additional chlorine treatment before letting the facility remain vacant for more than a year, they were unsuccessful in eliminating CWD from the facility." There seems to be some kind of species barrier making it difficult for deer prions to infect humans, because people are certainly being exposed to it frequently, especially in areas like the midwest where CWD is rampant. But we're in deep trouble if that ever changes. Imagine people dying of CJD because deer peed in a field somewhere decades ago, the prions bound to the soil, then bound to a seed planted in the soil, then you ate whatever crop happened to be grown there. It'd be inescapable.
- nathanyz 5y ago
  Luckily odds of actually getting it seem pretty low overall given the CDC increase referencing 3 deaths as an increase. But still, one of those terrifying ways to go. On a positive note, the act of being alive is also a ticking time bomb that inevitably leads to death as well, so there is that!
  - thatguy0900 5y ago
    As mentioned in the previous comment,its less because the odds are low and more becuase the US treats basically every animal bite as a rabies case. It takes a very extreme containment method to achieve low deaths
  - em500 5y ago
    Addressed in the parent post: >> Only x number of people have died in the U.S. in the past x years. Rabies is really rare. > Yes, deaths from rabies are rare in the United States, in the neighborhood of 2-3 per year. This does not mean rabies is rare. The reason that mortality is so rare in the U.S. is due to a very aggressive treatment protocol of all bite cases in the United States: If you are bitten, and you cannot identify the animal that bit you, or the animal were to die shortly after biting you, you will get post exposure treatment. That is the protocol. > Post exposure is very effective (almost 100%) if done before you become symptomatic. It involves a series of immunoglobulin shots - many of which are at the site of the bite - as well as the vaccine given over the span of a month. (Fun fact - if you're vaccinated for rabies, you may be able to be an immunoglobulin donor!) > In countries without good treatment protocols rabies is rampant. India alone sees 20,000 deaths from rabies PER YEAR.
    - watwut 5y ago
      Sounds like multiple reasons not to worry and keep doing what you want doing if you live in USA
    - sokoloff 5y ago
      Unfun fact: the rabies immune globulin shots are by far the most painful shot I've ever experienced and being the size that I am, I received what I think was 7 of them in quick succession. I also got the 4-shot vaccine series, which felt like any other vaccine (basically painless), but the RIG was like having liquid fire injected into my Forrest Gump region.
- watwut 5y ago
  The tree could have fallen on you. Or any other thing that once in a while, very rarely, kills people. I get the point and it is not all that bad writing. But, people don't die of rabbies all that often.
- userbinator 5y ago
  The sole caveat to this is the Milwaukee Protocol, which leaves most patients dead anyway, and the survivors mentally disabled, and is seldom done - see below I was curious, and thought that would be something gruesome involving power tools, so I looked it up and it's apparently an induced coma with heavy doses of antiviral drugs, which has a very low success rate.
  - zenexer 5y ago
    As far as I'm aware, exactly one person has survived that treatment, and she never fully recovered. A low success rate indeed.
- davidw 5y ago
  When I was a kid, I was pretty sure that rabies, quicksand and poisonous snakes were the big things to look out for.
tibbydudeza 5y ago
Well at least you are dead within a few days but as an insomnia sufferer FFI (Fatal Familial Insomnia) really scares the shit out of me - you die due to being unable to sleep - not even propofol helps.
tasha0663 5y ago
We had a bat in the house years ago. In my 3am stupor I tried to let it out until Dr. Spouse berated me and said we must catch it. Darn thing disappeared. Animal control came and couldn't find it. That's when I started reading about rabies. Freaked me out. Up until that point I had the attitude that if something felt off, just go to a doctor. Nope. Omae wa mo shindeiru. We had booked 2 adults and 2 diaper-age kids for PEP shots when I took the day off and turned the house upside down trying to find the bat. Eventually I found the dumb thing stuck to a glue trap for mice. No rabies. But yeah, people were looking at me like I was bonkers for scheduling the shots. "Did it bite you?" No idea! But I'm not going to take my chances on being the second person ever to come out not quite dead from a drug-induced coma after symptoms set in.
- MobileVet 5y ago
  Nice work. You don’t take a gamble when the odds are 100%, especially for your kids. Booking the shots was the right call. My father in law knew better and still let the bat escape. Cost us $10k in shots for 3 of us.

cbfrench 5y ago

Cue the random comment that made me terrified of rabies: https://www.reddit.com/r/aww/comments/81rr6f/he_fed_the_cute_trash_panda_and_looked_up_for_a/dv4xyks/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=ios_app&utm_name=iossmf&context=3 https://www.reddit.com/r/aww/comments/81rr6f/he_fed_the_cute...

weaksauce 5y ago
less scary than prion diseases like mad cow... imagine eating a burger ten years ago and dying from it. there was a notable case recently where a woman in a lab accidentally pricked her finger a long time ago and died from it. I believe it was in france. thankfully it is fairly rare.
- throwawayboise 5y ago
  Imagine developing untreatable cancer and dying next year. Much more likely than either prion disease or rabies. You can't go through life afraid of "what if" we are all dead in the end anyway.
  - khazhoux 5y ago
    Chill, friend. He didn’t say he lives in mortal fear of burgers. Just how weird it would be for that tasty burger to kill you a decade later.
- Notanothertoo 5y ago
  Prions are doubly terrifying because it's not a typical disease. From what I understand it's proteins folding in a different way that come into (the prions can be dead or alive) and the healthy proteins will take on the new form. It's scary because typical sterilization (high heat) for surgery does not work guarantee it and the heat required is not currently practical. The shakes from that cannibals get are prions. I also though I saw a link to a subset of alzehimer cases but can't find it.
  - spazrunaway 5y ago
    Prions are basically immortal. https://www.foodsafetynews.com/2015/06/researchers-make-surprising-discovery-about-spread-of-chronic-wasting-disease/ https://www.foodsafetynews.com/2015/06/researchers-make-surp... "...in 1985 when the Colorado Division of Wildlife tried to eliminate CWD from a research facility by treating the soil with chlorine, removing the treated soil, and applying an additional chlorine treatment before letting the facility remain vacant for more than a year, they were unsuccessful in eliminating CWD from the facility." There seems to be some kind of species barrier making it difficult for deer prions to infect humans, because people are certainly being exposed to it frequently, especially in areas like the midwest where CWD is rampant. But we're in deep trouble if that ever changes. Imagine people dying of CJD because deer peed in a field somewhere decades ago, the prions bound to the soil, then bound to a seed planted in the soil, then you ate whatever crop happened to be grown there. It'd be inescapable.
nathanyz 5y ago
Luckily odds of actually getting it seem pretty low overall given the CDC increase referencing 3 deaths as an increase. But still, one of those terrifying ways to go. On a positive note, the act of being alive is also a ticking time bomb that inevitably leads to death as well, so there is that!
- thatguy0900 5y ago
  As mentioned in the previous comment,its less because the odds are low and more becuase the US treats basically every animal bite as a rabies case. It takes a very extreme containment method to achieve low deaths
- em500 5y ago
  Addressed in the parent post: >> Only x number of people have died in the U.S. in the past x years. Rabies is really rare. > Yes, deaths from rabies are rare in the United States, in the neighborhood of 2-3 per year. This does not mean rabies is rare. The reason that mortality is so rare in the U.S. is due to a very aggressive treatment protocol of all bite cases in the United States: If you are bitten, and you cannot identify the animal that bit you, or the animal were to die shortly after biting you, you will get post exposure treatment. That is the protocol. > Post exposure is very effective (almost 100%) if done before you become symptomatic. It involves a series of immunoglobulin shots - many of which are at the site of the bite - as well as the vaccine given over the span of a month. (Fun fact - if you're vaccinated for rabies, you may be able to be an immunoglobulin donor!) > In countries without good treatment protocols rabies is rampant. India alone sees 20,000 deaths from rabies PER YEAR.
  - watwut 5y ago
    Sounds like multiple reasons not to worry and keep doing what you want doing if you live in USA
  - sokoloff 5y ago
    Unfun fact: the rabies immune globulin shots are by far the most painful shot I've ever experienced and being the size that I am, I received what I think was 7 of them in quick succession. I also got the 4-shot vaccine series, which felt like any other vaccine (basically painless), but the RIG was like having liquid fire injected into my Forrest Gump region.
watwut 5y ago
The tree could have fallen on you. Or any other thing that once in a while, very rarely, kills people. I get the point and it is not all that bad writing. But, people don't die of rabbies all that often.
userbinator 5y ago
The sole caveat to this is the Milwaukee Protocol, which leaves most patients dead anyway, and the survivors mentally disabled, and is seldom done - see below I was curious, and thought that would be something gruesome involving power tools, so I looked it up and it's apparently an induced coma with heavy doses of antiviral drugs, which has a very low success rate.
- zenexer 5y ago
  As far as I'm aware, exactly one person has survived that treatment, and she never fully recovered. A low success rate indeed.
davidw 5y ago
When I was a kid, I was pretty sure that rabies, quicksand and poisonous snakes were the big things to look out for.

tibbydudeza 5y ago

Well at least you are dead within a few days but as an insomnia sufferer FFI (Fatal Familial Insomnia) really scares the shit out of me - you die due to being unable to sleep - not even propofol helps.

tasha0663 5y ago

We had a bat in the house years ago. In my 3am stupor I tried to let it out until Dr. Spouse berated me and said we must catch it. Darn thing disappeared. Animal control came and couldn't find it. That's when I started reading about rabies. Freaked me out. Up until that point I had the attitude that if something felt off, just go to a doctor. Nope. Omae wa mo shindeiru. We had booked 2 adults and 2 diaper-age kids for PEP shots when I took the day off and turned the house upside down trying to find the bat. Eventually I found the dumb thing stuck to a glue trap for mice. No rabies. But yeah, people were looking at me like I was bonkers for scheduling the shots. "Did it bite you?" No idea! But I'm not going to take my chances on being the second person ever to come out not quite dead from a drug-induced coma after symptoms set in.

MobileVet 5y ago
Nice work. You don’t take a gamble when the odds are 100%, especially for your kids. Booking the shots was the right call. My father in law knew better and still let the bat escape. Cost us $10k in shots for 3 of us.