# Rabies Prevalence and the Milwaukee Protocol - Don't need answer fast **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [October 20, 2016, 12:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rabies-prevalence-and-the-milwaukee-protocol-dont-need-answer-fast/769122 "2016-10-20T12:07:54Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 6\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Les\_Espaces\_Du\_Sommeil](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/les_espaces_du_sommeil/32/308_2.png) [@Les\_Espaces\_Du\_Sommeil](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Les_Espaces_Du_Sommeil)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2016, 12:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rabies-prevalence-and-the-milwaukee-protocol-dont-need-answer-fast/769122/1 "2016-10-20T12:07:54Z")
A friend of mine had his puppy vaccinated a few weeks ago. Now, since I live in one of the few countries that is rabies-free in large part thanks to vaccination, I have never seen or heard of anyone catching it and I decided to read a bit about it. I had no idea that it was such a nasty disease. Almost 100% lethal once the symptoms appear. One thing that struck me is how many people die of it in Africa and Asia, while it’s almost unheard of in Europe and North America. As [mentioned in this article](https://www.wired.com/2012/07/ff_rabies/all/%20): _“I was skeptical it was really rabies,” he says. “That never happens!”_. I understand that access to good health care is probably a big factor (the vaccine is extremely effective if delivered quickly), but still I’m not sure it explains the disparity: tens of thousands of cases a year in the developing world and fewer than five in the US. Could it be that rabies is simply more prevalent in certain places ? The other question I have is about the only treatment that has shown some moderate success, the so-called [Milwaukee Protocol](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Milwaukee_protocol), which I find kind of fascinating. From what I understand, it’s also very controversial. Critics point out that it’s not scientifically sound and that its success, real but very limited, is probably due to other factors. Proponents’ answer is simple: the survival rate with the Milwaukee Protocol is about 12%. That’s bleak but before that, it was 0%. Given that the articles that I’ve read are already over 4-year-old, what is the state of the question nowadays ? Have other people been saved thanks to the protocol ? Is there new data available ? ---
**Author:** ![kayaker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kayaker/32/441_2.png) [@kayaker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kayaker)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2016, 12:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rabies-prevalence-and-the-milwaukee-protocol-dont-need-answer-fast/769122/2 "2016-10-20T12:22:52Z")
> [@Les\_Espaces\_Du\_Sommeil](#): > > Now, since I live in one of the few countries that is rabies-free Rabies free or _terrestrial_ rabies free? (do you have rabid bats?) ---
**Author:** ![Les\_Espaces\_Du\_Sommeil](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/les_espaces_du_sommeil/32/308_2.png) [@Les\_Espaces\_Du\_Sommeil](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Les_Espaces_Du_Sommeil)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2016, 1:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rabies-prevalence-and-the-milwaukee-protocol-dont-need-answer-fast/769122/3 "2016-10-20T13:24:02Z")
Good question. I’ve found [this](https://www.wiv-isp.be/en/health-topics/rabies/numbers#rabies-in-belgium) which says (bolding mine): > [@](#): > > - Every year the WIV-ISP’s Anti-rabies Centre treats between 80 and 160 people with anti-rabies vaccines and sometimes with anti-rabies antibodies (immunoglobulins). > \*\*- Every year, 10 to 20 people are treated following contact with a bat. \*\* > - The last case of rabies of vulpine origin was recorded in 1999, in a bovine in Bastogne. > - No case of indigenous animal rabies has been diagnosed in Belgium since 1999. > - Belgium has been recognised as being free from fox (or vulpine) rabies since 2001. > - Foxes have not presented a danger since 2001 and bats are under high surveillance. > **- No case of bat rabies has been detected in Belgium to date.** > > Since the eradication of rabies in Belgium and its indemnity status obtained in 2001, 2 cases of imported canine rabies have been recorded: > > - A dog imported from Morocco in 2007 (41 people treated with the anti-rabies vaccine, contact with another animal resulted in the latter having to be put down and a lot of other animals were vaccinated as a preventative measure and placed under observation by the FASFC) > - A dog imported from the Gambia in 2008. > > These 2 cases of imported canine rabies caused Belgium to lose its rabies indemnity status for 6 months. > > Thanks to intensive surveillance of the 2 cases of rabies, no secondary case was detected and Belgium managed to reclaim its indemnity status 6 months after each of these importation incidents. ---
**Author:** ![Marion\_Wormer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d07c76/32.png) [@Marion\_Wormer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marion_Wormer)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2016, 9:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rabies-prevalence-and-the-milwaukee-protocol-dont-need-answer-fast/769122/4 "2016-10-20T21:34:36Z")
A domestic cat once came out of the woods and bit me. I got the rabies shot–this was in the 80s. Anyway, they don’t give it in the stomach any more, and haven’t for decades. The give it at the site of the wound and one in the hip once a week for about a month or so. I’m now protected against rabies for life, except for monkeys in Thailand. And when I was in Thailand, I made sure I didn’t go near any monkeys. Since then I’ve been told if I get bitten again, I still have to get the shots again…oh, well. My insurance paid every cent. Not even a co-pay, and since I had to go the the emergency room for every shot (they were the only place in the county that gave the shots) they paid through the nose. The interesting thing, was that the rabies vaccine was tested in Iraq. The US doesn’t have enough cases. ---
**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:** [October 21, 2016, 1:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rabies-prevalence-and-the-milwaukee-protocol-dont-need-answer-fast/769122/5 "2016-10-21T13:21:01Z")
> [@Les\_Espaces\_Du\_Sommeil](#): > > Proponents’ answer is simple: the survival rate with the Milwaukee Protocol is about 12%. That’s bleak but before that, it was 0%. Whoever these proponents are, their figures are incorrect. Survival with the Milwaukee Protocol is [not that good](https://pandorareport.org/2014/05/01/no-rabies-treatment-after-all-failure-of-the-milwaukee-protocol/), with only one survivor confirmed (which is why the treatments have largely been abandoned). And [this article](http://abcnews.go.com/Health/california-girl-us-survive-rabies/story?id=13830407) mentions 8-10 survivors of rabies infection, so it is certainly possible (though extremely rare) to live without undergoing the Milwaukee Protocol. ---
**Author:** ![Les\_Espaces\_Du\_Sommeil](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/les_espaces_du_sommeil/32/308_2.png) [@Les\_Espaces\_Du\_Sommeil](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Les_Espaces_Du_Sommeil)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2016, 1:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rabies-prevalence-and-the-milwaukee-protocol-dont-need-answer-fast/769122/6 "2016-10-21T13:38:14Z")
The article I linked to in the OP mentions: > [@](#): > > Following a hunch based on unproven science, Rodney Willoughby attempted a novel treatment of rabies, and his patient, against all expectation, survived. What some of the world’s top rabies experts believe, also on the basis of unproven science, is perhaps even more startling. They do not deny that Jeanna and Precious had rabies. But they refuse to credit the Milwaukee protocol with **saving the two girls (and the other four survivors).** Instead, these experts believe that throughout history, despite millennia of faith in rabies as a perfectly fatal disease, some people were surviving it all along. The sentence is a bit ambiguous but I read it as “6 persons who had undergone the Milwaukee Protocol survived”. The article you provided casts a very different, much less optimistic light and is more recent. However, several people in the comment section point out that it’s based on just one paper which Chris Healey, the author, brings up almost like a robot everytime someone tries to defend the treatment. It’s still not very clear to me.