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Growing up in the country, my mother made me terrified of getting rabies.
"Don't touch that stray dog or he may bite you and give you rabies."
"Watch out for that baby squirrel on the deck -- he might give you rabies!"
"You don't want to get rabies, or you'll have to get six shots in the stomach ..."
Scary, but all true.
Yet, to this day, I don't personally know anyone who's ever gotten the dreaded rabies. Maybe because all the people I hang with aren't daft enough to try to pet a raccoon staggering around in broad daylight with Cool Whip on its mouth ... IDK.
But despite these personal statistics, I was shocked to read that rabies, a oftentimes fatal virus that spreads through the saliva of an infected animal, is really, really common!
According to a recent release, a person -- usually a child -- dies of the rabies virus every 20 minutes worldwide. It's a big problem in underdeveloped countries, so I'm guessing it's not that big an issue here, but still, the prospect of six shots in the gut over a month is enough to make me wary of any stray near me or my kids.
The big news today is that doctors are close to making a rabies vaccine that requires only ONE injection to stop the virus in its tracks after being bitten. That's good to know, but thanks to my mom, I'm still petrified of baby squirrels.
Has you or anyone you know ever gotten rabies? How did they get it -- how long did it take them to get well?
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Comments (3)
Ok, I hate people saying that being bitten by a squirrel will give you rabies. Sure, it can get infected, but squirrels and other small rodent's don't carry rabies. They're more likely to get torn to little bits if they got attacked by something with rabies, rather than live to become infected and transmit it.
That being said. We had some rabies scares when I was a kid, living in relatively rural Florida. I was a little worried about it back then, especially when we would see things like a raccoon standing on the side of the road in broad daylight, that didn't flee when approached.
Easiest way to tell if an animal has rabies is the obvious foaming at the mouth, acting differently than normal (ie the raccoon out in broad daylight) and one that most people don't know is hydrophobia.
Sorry for the little tirade, I grew up with having to know all the details because it was something that happened around my home while I was growing up. :D
ANY mammal can carry rabies, some are less likely than others but it can never be ruled out 100% Everyone says possums are so sweet - not those in my yard! And they are one of the "less likely" to get rabies but I believe I have seen it personally. Situation handled not to take chances. In Fond du Lac WI a teenage girl contracted rabies from a bat and was one of a minute percentage to ever survive. Read up on her online. A remarkable survival story. Prevention for our domestic animals is the best thing to do. Be aware but not afraid of wild critters.
I was bad about finding little critters and trying to play with them as a kid, my mom said the exact same stuff to me constantly growing up. :-)