# My patient with rabies **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [July 22, 2013, 3:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-patient-with-rabies/664196 "2013-07-22T15:05:17Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![AK84](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/85e7bf/32.png) [@AK84](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AK84)\ **Post date:** [July 22, 2013, 8:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-patient-with-rabies/664196/41 "2013-07-22T20:56:18Z")
My clerk once asked for a day off because his mother was in the Hospital suffering from…a _Mayo Infection_. ---
**Author:** ![ducati](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/cc9497/32.png) [@ducati](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ducati)\ **Post date:** [July 22, 2013, 9:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-patient-with-rabies/664196/42 "2013-07-22T21:06:21Z")
> [@user\_hostile](#): > > [In a nutshell, her uvula is on the fritz.](http://snltranscripts.jt.org/75/75vuvula.phtml) 1. I can’t believe you remembered this. You must be very old. 2. I can’t believe I remembered this. I am very old. 3. I may be thinking of something else. Nevermind.[/EL] ---
**Author:** ![user\_hostile](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/user_hostile/32/474_2.png) [@user\_hostile](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/user_hostile)\ **Post date:** [July 22, 2013, 9:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-patient-with-rabies/664196/43 "2013-07-22T21:27:43Z")
> [@ducati](#): > > 1. I can’t believe you remembered this. You must be very old. > > 2. I can’t believe I remembered this. I am very old. > > 3. I may be thinking of something else. Nevermind.[/EL] Pardon me, as I need to go into my bedroom and gently weep into my pillow. And stop looking at my gut–I’m working on it! ---
**Author:** ![Broomstick](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/broomstick/32/246_2.png) [@Broomstick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Broomstick)\ **Post date:** [July 22, 2013, 11:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-patient-with-rabies/664196/44 "2013-07-22T23:22:20Z")
> [@Skara\_Brae](#): > > Isn’t rabies always 100% fatal after symptoms appear? There are actually a very, very, very few documented cases of people surviving rabies after symptoms appear. Not all of them have made a good recovery. > [@](#): > > I was wondering why they were starting him on anything, unless it was to make him comfortable. There are basically three treatments for full blown rabies in humans: 1. Where modern medical care is not available, tie person to tree or other stout support so they can’t infect anyone else. 2. Where modern medical care is available treat symptoms as they appear as best you can, then put person into medication induced coma until they die as a pallative measure. 3. [Milwaukee protocol](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Milwaukee_protocol), which is still experimental, has generated only 4 survivors out of three dozen attempts, and is controversial. ---
**Author:** ![Hari\_Seldon](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hari_seldon/32/5173_2.png) [@Hari\_Seldon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hari_Seldon)\ **Post date:** [July 23, 2013, 12:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-patient-with-rabies/664196/45 "2013-07-23T00:07:28Z")
> [@Skara\_Brae](#): > > Isn’t rabies always 100% fatal after symptoms appear? I was wondering why they were starting him on anything, unless it was to make him comfortable. Actually it isn’t. A few patients have recovered. I was just reading about this, maybe in Scientific American. Rabies from dogs is invariably fatal, but there are occasional recoveries of rabies from bats. And I guess there is palliative care. ---
**Author:** ![cochrane](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cochrane/32/10441_2.png) [@cochrane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cochrane)\ **Post date:** [July 23, 2013, 1:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-patient-with-rabies/664196/46 "2013-07-23T01:09:45Z")
Miss Litella, it’s scabies, not rabies. Scabies? Yes. Scabies. Oh, well. That’s very different, then. Yes. It is. NEVER MIND! ---
**Author:** ![ducati](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/cc9497/32.png) [@ducati](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ducati)\ **Post date:** [July 23, 2013, 2:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-patient-with-rabies/664196/47 "2013-07-23T02:02:49Z")
> [@Broomstick](#): > > 1. [Milwaukee protocol](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Milwaukee_protocol), which is still experimental, has generated only 4 survivors out of three dozen attempts, and is controversial. Fascinating! Almost 10% success, vs. 0%. Where is the controversy? No snark. I’m genuinely interested. As with any medical procedure, there will be trial and error as we learn what works and what doesn’t. Note the omission of Ribovarin in version 2. C-sections and heart transplants used to be problematic. Today, they as common as toast with readily managed complications or issues. Researchers and doctors have solved a number of complex medical problems for us. Why isn’t this seen as simply the beginning of a great, new treatment regimen? ---
**Author:** ![user\_hostile](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/user_hostile/32/474_2.png) [@user\_hostile](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/user_hostile)\ **Post date:** [July 23, 2013, 7:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-patient-with-rabies/664196/48 "2013-07-23T07:02:42Z")
> [@Hari\_Seldon](#): > > Actually it isn’t. A few patients have recovered. I was just reading about this, maybe in Scientific American. Rabies from dogs is invariably fatal, but there are occasional recoveries of rabies from bats. And I guess there is palliative care. I think you are referring to [this](http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=rethinking-rabies). ---
**Author:** ![Broomstick](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/broomstick/32/246_2.png) [@Broomstick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Broomstick)\ **Post date:** [July 23, 2013, 10:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-patient-with-rabies/664196/49 "2013-07-23T10:34:49Z")
> [@ducati](#): > > Fascinating! Almost 10% success, vs. 0%. Where is the controversy? No snark. I’m genuinely interested. Some experts in the rabies field believe that the survival of these people is due to infection with less virulent strains of the virus rather than the expensive and elaborate Milwaukee protocol. Others believe that focusing on prevention is the only way to approach the problem as the places with the highest number of rabies deaths just don’t have the resources to treat people with this protocol. Finally, while a few people have survived rabies that does NOT mean they survived without significant impairment. _All_ of them have suffered some form of neurological damage and not all of them have been able to recover normal function. Those that have, have done so via intensive rehab which, again, is not readily available in those areas most plagued by human rabies. So, it comes down to 1. It doesn’t work, it just seems to 2. It’s too expensive where rabies is most prevalent 3. It saves lives but leaves people with significant impairment. ---
**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:** [July 23, 2013, 12:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-patient-with-rabies/664196/50 "2013-07-23T12:25:48Z")
Scabies treatment is [controversial](http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0738081X10000325) too!! ---
**Author:** ![Jackmannii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jackmannii/32/311_2.png) [@Jackmannii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jackmannii)\ **Post date:** [July 23, 2013, 1:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-patient-with-rabies/664196/51 "2013-07-23T13:04:44Z")
> [@Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](#): > > Scabies treatment is [controversial](http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0738081X10000325) too!! Goshdarnit, I’m not a subscriber so I can’t see the article. But seeing as scabies is near 100% fatal\*, no treatment is too extreme. At least, I felt that way in med school upon diagnosing the true cause of a mysterious full-body rash that afflicted a patient who’d been in the hospital for at least a week. It was the old-fashioned lindane shampoo for me (don’t know what the rest of the hospital staff did after learning the news, but the nurses had a lot more close contact with him than I did). \*kidding, kidding ---
**Author:** ![Anaamika](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/5f9b8f/32.png) [@Anaamika](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Anaamika)\ **Post date:** [July 23, 2013, 2:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-patient-with-rabies/664196/52 "2013-07-23T14:05:57Z")
> [@Broomstick](#): > > 1. [Milwaukee protocol](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Milwaukee_protocol), which is still experimental, has generated only 4 survivors out of three dozen attempts, and is controversial. This really is a fascinating link. Thanks for posting it! ---
**Author:** ![11811](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/1/9d8465/32.png) [@11811](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/11811)\ **Post date:** [July 23, 2013, 3:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-patient-with-rabies/664196/53 "2013-07-23T15:32:32Z")
Leaving for the moment how an incarcerated patient might have gotten rabies, is scabies common in the prison system? ---
**Author:** ![aruvqan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aruvqan/32/2891_2.png) [@aruvqan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aruvqan)\ **Post date:** [July 23, 2013, 4:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-patient-with-rabies/664196/54 "2013-07-23T16:07:50Z")
> [@Broomstick](#): > > 1. It saves lives but leaves people with significant impairment. Hm. Impairment Death I’ll take impairment, thanks. ---
**Author:** ![FrancisCastle](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/b4bc9f/32.png) [@FrancisCastle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FrancisCastle)\ **Post date:** [July 23, 2013, 4:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-patient-with-rabies/664196/55 "2013-07-23T16:18:20Z")
I don’t work in the prison system, but I do work at a clinic/hospital. Every couple of months or so it seems like there is an outbreak of scabies at the county jail. Break out the spray!! :eek: ---
**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:** [July 23, 2013, 4:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-patient-with-rabies/664196/56 "2013-07-23T16:45:35Z")
> [@11811](#): > > Leaving for the moment how an incarcerated patient might have gotten rabies, is scabies common in the prison system? Scabies occurs more in any setting where people live together in close quarters. It affects about 300 million people worldwide. ---
**Author:** ![user\_hostile](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/user_hostile/32/474_2.png) [@user\_hostile](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/user_hostile)\ **Post date:** [July 23, 2013, 5:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-patient-with-rabies/664196/57 "2013-07-23T17:12:13Z")
> [@Anaamika](#): > > This really is a fascinating link. Thanks for posting it! Your welcome. I was foaming at the mouth trying to find it. ---
**Author:** ![Ludovic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/7ab992/32.png) [@Ludovic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ludovic)\ **Post date:** [July 23, 2013, 5:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-patient-with-rabies/664196/58 "2013-07-23T17:27:55Z")
> [@AaronX](#): > > BABIES!!! He’s got babies!!! How is scabby formed? How boy get pragnent? ---
**Author:** ![Inigo\_Montoya](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/inigo_montoya/32/124_2.png) [@Inigo\_Montoya](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Inigo_Montoya)\ **Post date:** [July 23, 2013, 7:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-patient-with-rabies/664196/59 "2013-07-23T19:23:32Z")
> [@Anaamika](#): > > This really is a fascinating link. Thanks for posting it! +1 I was under the impression the only ‘treatment’ for rabies included a heavy dose of ‘vitamin K’ and some shovel work. Odd it’s considered controversial–even a small success rate beats certainty of death. I take it the more legitemate objection is the rabies strain in question was either weak/beaten without treatment or misdiagnosed? ---
**Author:** ![Tethered\_Kite](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/a5b964/32.png) [@Tethered\_Kite](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tethered_Kite)\ **Post date:** [July 23, 2013, 7:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-patient-with-rabies/664196/60 "2013-07-23T19:55:45Z")
> [@Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](#): > > Scabies occurs more in any setting where people live together in close quarters. It affects about 300 million people worldwide. When I worked at the State Hospital we’d get an outbreak of them now and then. As far as goofy R.N.s, there were a few of those too. Environmental hazard. 😃 [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-patient-with-rabies/664196.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-patient-with-rabies/664196.md?page=4)