# I dedicate my 3001st post to the girl who survived rabies. **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [November 23, 2004, 10:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-dedicate-my-3001st-post-to-the-girl-who-survived-rabies/276368 "2004-11-23T22:20:17Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 13\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/qadgop_the_mercotan/32/83_2.png) [@Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Qadgop_the_Mercotan)\ **Post date:** [November 25, 2004, 1:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-dedicate-my-3001st-post-to-the-girl-who-survived-rabies/276368/21 "2004-11-25T01:00:04Z")
> [@Reeder](#): > > Is it really a miracle? Or just investigating ways that had never been tried before? Well, the first time’s always a miracle. After that, it becomes pedestrian. [/quote] Does this signal the end of rabies as a fatal disease? [/QUOTE] I doubt it very much. You’ve got to have a high level of medical technology put someone in a coma for a week, support them, and then revive them, put them thru therapy, etc. It won’t benefit 3rd world nations, where people are dying of rabies daily. But if you have rabies, get diagnosed at the right time, have a tertiary hospital nearby, good insurance and an otherwise healthy constitution, then the disease is no longer 100% fatal. ---
**Author:** ![Uncommon\_Sense](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/f9ae1b/32.png) [@Uncommon\_Sense](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Uncommon_Sense)\ **Post date:** [November 25, 2004, 2:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-dedicate-my-3001st-post-to-the-girl-who-survived-rabies/276368/22 "2004-11-25T02:22:02Z")
> [@Reeder](#): > > So they shut her brain down. They put her in a coma. > > They left her there for long enough for her immune system to take care of the virus. > > She is expected to be home by christmas. > > Here’s a link…the audio will be available about 7:30 pm eastern. > > [http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=4186205](http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=4186205) I don’t think this procedure itself (the coma part) is anything new. They treated her with some other unique meds too. It was the whole fly-by-the-seat-of-their-pants approach and some ingenuity that saved her. I kind of doubt that the disease now has a reliable treatment. Every new case will tend to be unique to itself. ---
**Author:** ![Ranchoth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ranchoth/32/1066_2.png) [@Ranchoth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ranchoth)\ **Post date:** [November 25, 2004, 2:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-dedicate-my-3001st-post-to-the-girl-who-survived-rabies/276368/23 "2004-11-25T02:29:02Z")
> [@NoPretentiousCodename](#): > > The air in a cave inhabited by bats may also transmit the virus. Starts to put Batman’s psyche in a whole new light, doesn’t it? :eek: And…according to [this news site,](http://www.wisinfo.com/thereporter/news/archive/local_18761477.shtml) > [@](#): > > The St. Mary’s Springs High School sophomore is conscious, breathing on her own and is able to sit up in a chair. She is not yet speaking, said Willoughby, but “her voice is due to return and she is communicating.” Willoughby said she is weak, but she was able to stand briefly, with help, on Tuesday. Looking good, then. Score one for western medicine! ---
**Author:** ![Helen\_s\_Eidolon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/8edcca/32.png) [@Helen\_s\_Eidolon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Helen_s_Eidolon)\ **Post date:** [November 25, 2004, 4:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-dedicate-my-3001st-post-to-the-girl-who-survived-rabies/276368/24 "2004-11-25T04:49:18Z")
This makes me very happy. I’ve been entertaining an unreasonable fear of rabies for quite some time now. By the time you notice symptoms - **it’s too late!** Or, it USED to be. ---
**Author:** ![InternetLegend](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/internetlegend/32/13154_2.png) [@InternetLegend](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/InternetLegend)\ **Post date:** [November 25, 2004, 6:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-dedicate-my-3001st-post-to-the-girl-who-survived-rabies/276368/25 "2004-11-25T06:45:24Z")
My father was a missionary doctor in Indonesia in the 60s, and he saw far too many cases of rabies in humans. He used to tell the story of a man who’d come into the hospital already showing signs of hand tremors. He said he injected vaccine into the man’s spinal column, and the patient survived (although with some neurological deficiencies). I’d never questioned the story, but when I see a statement like “only five people in the world are known to have survived…” after the onset of symptoms, I start wondering if he embellished the story a bit. It’s far too late to ask him, though - does anyone know if one of the five was a man on Sumatra sometime between 1965 and 1970? I was bitten by my dog when we were in Indonesia, and he turned out to have rabies. I had the series of injections in my stomach, and I can attest to the unpleasantness of the experience. My dad was also exposed, and he not only had to have the series, he had to administer them to himself. ---
**Author:** ![Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/qadgop_the_mercotan/32/83_2.png) [@Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Qadgop_the_Mercotan)\ **Post date:** [November 25, 2004, 2:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-dedicate-my-3001st-post-to-the-girl-who-survived-rabies/276368/26 "2004-11-25T14:26:22Z")
> [@InternetLegend](#): > > My father was a missionary doctor in Indonesia in the 60s, and he saw far too many cases of rabies in humans. He used to tell the story of a man who’d come into the hospital already showing signs of hand tremors. He said he injected vaccine into the man’s spinal column, and the patient survived (although with some neurological deficiencies). I’d never questioned the story, but when I see a statement like “only five people in the world are known to have survived…” after the onset of symptoms, I start wondering if he embellished the story a bit. It’s far too late to ask him, though - does anyone know if one of the five was a man on Sumatra sometime between 1965 and 1970? I’m sure that more people survived rabies after late and extreme vaccinations such as you describe, that just never got documented. Unless your dad took steps to report this case to the medical literature, there’s no way for the medical community to include it in the data. And I’d wager that, out in the sticks like he was, there were more important things to do than report such data. So I’d give him the benefit of the doubt. ---
**Author:** ![Canadjun](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/76d3ee/32.png) [@Canadjun](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Canadjun)\ **Post date:** [November 27, 2004, 3:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-dedicate-my-3001st-post-to-the-girl-who-survived-rabies/276368/27 "2004-11-27T03:03:40Z")
> [@Uncommon Sense](#): > > Thanks. > **Qadgop** , could you explain how/why a vaccine can be useful after the patient is already infected with the disease? It was my understanding that you need the antibodies in your system before the attack (flu for instance), and why is rabies different, if it is. I can’t answer your question (I asked an immunologist almost the exact same question once and didn’t get a satisfactory answer [satisfactory to me, at least]); however, I would point out that rabies vaccine isn’t the only example of after-the-fact innoculation. Tetanus shots are given after an injury. I read somewhere (sorry, no cite) that a smallpox vaccination given after exposure but before symptoms is effective. There’s probably others. ---
**Author:** ![Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bosda_di_chi_of_tricor/32/16845_2.png) [@Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bosda_Di_Chi_of_Tricor)\ **Post date:** [November 27, 2004, 3:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-dedicate-my-3001st-post-to-the-girl-who-survived-rabies/276368/28 "2004-11-27T03:14:59Z")
You know, I used to live in the Waukesha area. And I read this, & recall that contaminated water supply thing…when did Wisconsin become a plague spot? 😕 ---
**Author:** ![Oregon\_sunshine](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/50afbb/32.png) [@Oregon\_sunshine](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Oregon_sunshine)\ **Post date:** [November 27, 2004, 3:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-dedicate-my-3001st-post-to-the-girl-who-survived-rabies/276368/29 "2004-11-27T03:51:59Z")
**LaurAnge** , me too. I’m glad I’m not the only one, as everybody around me thinks it’s a little bit nuts that I’m so afraid. But… it’s just the nature of it, like you said… Once you know you have it, it’s (or it was???) _too late_. Very disconcerting. Especially after you’ve read about cryptic rabies cases on the CDC web site, where people get the disease with no history of an animal bite. :eek: Nightmare fodder. Okay, maybe I am crazy. ---
**Author:** ![Muffin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/muffin/32/4341_2.png) [@Muffin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Muffin)\ **Post date:** [November 27, 2004, 4:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-dedicate-my-3001st-post-to-the-girl-who-survived-rabies/276368/30 "2004-11-27T16:02:12Z")
Is there a prophylactic vaccine for rabies? ---
**Author:** ![Helen\_s\_Eidolon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/8edcca/32.png) [@Helen\_s\_Eidolon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Helen_s_Eidolon)\ **Post date:** [November 27, 2004, 5:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-dedicate-my-3001st-post-to-the-girl-who-survived-rabies/276368/31 "2004-11-27T17:46:50Z")
**ggurl** , everyone thinks I’m crazy too. We can be crazy together. Ah, the wonders of the message baord - bringing people crazy about obscure things together, all over the world. ---
**Author:** ![Morgyn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/morgyn/32/3041_2.png) [@Morgyn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Morgyn)\ **Post date:** [January 2, 2005, 6:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-dedicate-my-3001st-post-to-the-girl-who-survived-rabies/276368/32 "2005-01-02T06:33:47Z")
She’s been [released](http://www.cnn.com/2005/HEALTH/01/01/rabies.survivor.ap/index.html) from the hospital. ---
**Author:** ![DocCathode](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/doccathode/32/18773_2.png) [@DocCathode](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DocCathode)\ **Post date:** [January 2, 2005, 7:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-dedicate-my-3001st-post-to-the-girl-who-survived-rabies/276368/33 "2005-01-02T07:29:46Z")
> [@NoPretentiousCodename](#): > > • The air in a cave inhabited by bats may also transmit the virus. According to Bat Conservation International, there are only 2 reported cases of this > [@](#): > > Rabies virus has not been isolated from bat blood, urine or feces, and there is no evidence of air-borne transmission in buildings. Two cases of aerosol transmission were reported in the 1950’s in Texas caves that support very unusual environments. However, no similar cases have occurred since, despite the fact that many thousands of people explore bat caves each year. No such transmission has occurred outside or in buildings However, you can get Histoplasmosis from breathing in the spores of a fungus that grows in bat droppings. If conditions are right, this can occur outside. > [@](#): > > . Human infection is common in and adjacent to the Ohio and Mississippi River drainages where warm, humid climates favor fungal development. The fungus is rare in dry western and cool northern climates. It can be present, but is uncommon in dry, hot attics of buildings. Most people who are infected won’t notice it, or will think it’s the flu. > **[Bat Conservation International / Ending Bat Extinctions Worldwide](https://www.batcon.org/)** > > Bats are vital to our world’s ecosystems and economy, We’re working worldwide to ensure the survival of these extraordinary mammals. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-dedicate-my-3001st-post-to-the-girl-who-survived-rabies/276368.md?page=1)