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Go ahead and read up on what a death due to rabies is like. After that, you'll definitely never neglect to treat a wild animal bite seriously. It's the stuff ni

Go ahead and read up on what a death due to rabies is like. After that, you'll definitely never neglect to treat a wild animal bite seriously. It's the stuff nightmares are made of.

vundercind 2y ago
TL;DR it slowly, and mostly asymptomatically, eats its way up your nerves until it reaches your brain and starts eating that. That's when you start developing significant signs and symptoms, by which point, maybe weeks after exposure and without evident illness in the meantime, you're already dead. There's a treatment protocol—it's grueling and if you live, you'll suffer some amount of permanent disability. And, statistically, you won't live. You're dead. The course after that is a few weeks of effectively rapid-onset severe dementia. Animals don't get violent and unpredictable because the virus is simply angry-making—they get that way because they stop recognizing once-familiar things and can't remember how they got where they are, and so are constantly fucking terrified, plus their throats are closing up so they can't eat or drink (assuming they could remember to, or how to) and are experiencing dehydration and starvation. That's your near future by the time there are signs of the disease. You're about to dehydrate to death over a period of low-tens of days while becoming increasingly confused and frightened by your situation and by your own loved ones. It's absolutely horrifying.
gav 2y ago
You need to treat any animal bite seriously. I had to convince a coworker to go to the ER to have a cat bite looked at, and she ended up spending a couple of days in the ICU with the doctor being clear that delaying treatment another few days would have been fatal.
- vundercind 2y ago
  https://xkcd.com/1775/ https://xkcd.com/1775/ This one covers several things but is basically motivated by spreading the bad news about the seriousness of cat bites, as made clear by the alt text.
  - plagiarist 2y ago
    That alt text doesn't seem to be about rabies, is it something else? Would have been nice to know that and yes the red flags also, haha.
- paulpauper 2y ago
  yeah cat bites are bad. Cats tend to not bite though without giving warning fortunately
- CatWChainsaw 2y ago
  Knowing that stuff like this happens really makes you appreciate how humanity managed to survive this long. If thrown into the preindustrial past, I would miss temperature control, refrigeration, and the Internet MUCH less than vaccines, antibiotics, and OTC pain relievers.
jimbob45 2y ago
Ditto for Tetanus. I always half-heartedly got my Tetanus vaccine when it came time because why not? After learning what happens, I started marking the day on my calendar ten years in advance.
- nkozyra 2y ago
  Interestingly, the thoughts on boosters have shifted a lot and the recommendation to receive every ten years may soon be dropped, since the vaccine is considered to have a longer effect than originally thought. Since Clostridium tetani is anaerobic and in fact can't survive in the presence of oxygen, a lot of the things people suspect could give it to them likely can't. Unless you cut yourself while digging it's pretty unlikely you've been exposed to tetani. And not to downplay your fears too much, but untreated tetanus is ~7% fatal versus 99.9% with rabies.
  - akira2501 2y ago
    For the general population. For those who work on poultry farms they're going to continue recommending regular boosters. Chicken droppings can be a source of the bacteria.
  - PlunderBunny 2y ago
    Remember that the tetanus vaccine is often combined with a vaccine for diphtheria and whooping cough. You might not need a tetanus vaccine, but you might need the other two. As always, ask your doctor if it doubt.
  - AbortedLaunch 2y ago
    Clostridium endospores can survive just fine in the presence of oxygen.
    - nkozyra 2y ago
      Oxygen is literally toxic to anaerobes in the clostridia class. Which means their endospores are likely to be where the bacteria is. Like botulism or bacterial gangrene, tetani can survive for short periods (as can humans sans oxygen) but is unlikely to be found in sufficient quantities to cause concern.
oefrha 2y ago
Unless a not-too-gruesome death is somehow not concerning to you, knowing that rabies = certain death should be enough, And at least where I grew up, rabies = certain death is taught to kids in first grade, maybe even kindergarten.

Go ahead and read up on what a death due to rabies is like. After that, you'll definitely never neglect to treat a wild animal bite seriously. It's the stuff nightmares are made of.

vundercind 2y ago

TL;DR it slowly, and mostly asymptomatically, eats its way up your nerves until it reaches your brain and starts eating that. That's when you start developing significant signs and symptoms, by which point, maybe weeks after exposure and without evident illness in the meantime, you're already dead. There's a treatment protocol—it's grueling and if you live, you'll suffer some amount of permanent disability. And, statistically, you won't live. You're dead. The course after that is a few weeks of effectively rapid-onset severe dementia. Animals don't get violent and unpredictable because the virus is simply angry-making—they get that way because they stop recognizing once-familiar things and can't remember how they got where they are, and so are constantly fucking terrified, plus their throats are closing up so they can't eat or drink (assuming they could remember to, or how to) and are experiencing dehydration and starvation. That's your near future by the time there are signs of the disease. You're about to dehydrate to death over a period of low-tens of days while becoming increasingly confused and frightened by your situation and by your own loved ones. It's absolutely horrifying.

gav 2y ago

You need to treat any animal bite seriously. I had to convince a coworker to go to the ER to have a cat bite looked at, and she ended up spending a couple of days in the ICU with the doctor being clear that delaying treatment another few days would have been fatal.

vundercind 2y ago
https://xkcd.com/1775/ https://xkcd.com/1775/ This one covers several things but is basically motivated by spreading the bad news about the seriousness of cat bites, as made clear by the alt text.
- plagiarist 2y ago
  That alt text doesn't seem to be about rabies, is it something else? Would have been nice to know that and yes the red flags also, haha.
paulpauper 2y ago
yeah cat bites are bad. Cats tend to not bite though without giving warning fortunately
CatWChainsaw 2y ago
Knowing that stuff like this happens really makes you appreciate how humanity managed to survive this long. If thrown into the preindustrial past, I would miss temperature control, refrigeration, and the Internet MUCH less than vaccines, antibiotics, and OTC pain relievers.

jimbob45 2y ago

Ditto for Tetanus. I always half-heartedly got my Tetanus vaccine when it came time because why not? After learning what happens, I started marking the day on my calendar ten years in advance.

nkozyra 2y ago
Interestingly, the thoughts on boosters have shifted a lot and the recommendation to receive every ten years may soon be dropped, since the vaccine is considered to have a longer effect than originally thought. Since Clostridium tetani is anaerobic and in fact can't survive in the presence of oxygen, a lot of the things people suspect could give it to them likely can't. Unless you cut yourself while digging it's pretty unlikely you've been exposed to tetani. And not to downplay your fears too much, but untreated tetanus is ~7% fatal versus 99.9% with rabies.
- akira2501 2y ago
  For the general population. For those who work on poultry farms they're going to continue recommending regular boosters. Chicken droppings can be a source of the bacteria.
- PlunderBunny 2y ago
  Remember that the tetanus vaccine is often combined with a vaccine for diphtheria and whooping cough. You might not need a tetanus vaccine, but you might need the other two. As always, ask your doctor if it doubt.
- AbortedLaunch 2y ago
  Clostridium endospores can survive just fine in the presence of oxygen.
  - nkozyra 2y ago
    Oxygen is literally toxic to anaerobes in the clostridia class. Which means their endospores are likely to be where the bacteria is. Like botulism or bacterial gangrene, tetani can survive for short periods (as can humans sans oxygen) but is unlikely to be found in sufficient quantities to cause concern.

oefrha 2y ago

Unless a not-too-gruesome death is somehow not concerning to you, knowing that rabies = certain death should be enough, And at least where I grew up, rabies = certain death is taught to kids in first grade, maybe even kindergarten.