Wife found dead bat in house -- rabies confirmed..

[levdrakon]

@manila

Holy crap guys I have just finished a course of (3 total) anti rabies shots in Phils. Total cost slightly more than $100. (it would have been half that for a local)

I’m finding it hard to see how your system can charge upto 20-30K. How do you tolerate that?

Crappy and/or no insurance and emergency rooms and hospitals that jack up prices eleventy-gahzillion times because they can?

[Desert_Nomad]

@StGermain

I have no idea how much the vaccines cost with the medical services provided, but my company distributes it, and it’s less than $300/dose.

StG

The vaccine is about $1500, it is the post-exposure stuff that is big bucks… and seemingly rare. My brother’s family used the entire supply of the stuff that existed within the local area… cleaning out three hospitals.

[Yllaria]

@DocCathode

. . .
Ylaria I’ve only come across literally two or three cases where a person claims to have contracted rabies without being bitten. They claimed it was through aerosol saliva in bat caves. Just doing research on the web revealed there was evidence of one patient handling wild bats with his bare hands. Another had bats come into contact with open lesions on his face and neck. I’ve seen zero evidence that breathing aerosol bat saliva can infect you with rabies. Breathing in bits of bat dung CAN cause toxoplasmosis (or was it histoplasmosis?). But that’s really only a risk for the very young, the very old, and the immuno compromised. . . .

Thanks. It’s good to know infection by contact with saliva is possible but unlikely, with bats. I’m going to assume that being scratched by an infected animal would still warrant shots, though.

[DocCathode]

@Yllaria

Thanks. It’s good to know infection by contact with saliva is possible but unlikely, with bats. I’m going to assume that being scratched by an infected animal would still warrant shots, though.

I’ve seen no evidence that aerosol saliva can transmit the virus. If, OTOH, a questionable specimen drools on you, you should get the shots. If Cujo wants to lick you, just say no.

As far as scratches, I’d get the shots. Maybe you can be sure that the animal wasn’t licking itself or holding food with its claws or otherwise transferring the virus to its claws recently. Maybe you can be sure an animal that managed to scratch you didn’t manage to bite you as well. I’d just get the shots.

[saje]

I keep reading the title as “Wife found dead IN bat house”… which makes me go all puzzled puppy…

[Lynnsey]

I found this interesting (and sad of course)…especially since the hospital is right by where I work. I never thought about the history of its name.

http://www.people.com/article/david-duchovny-louder-than-words-maria-fareri

[elfkin477]

@Baker

It was a very small specimen, so I flushed it as I would have a dead mouse.

Wait, what?

[grude]

It sounds dumb but they really should drill into kids and adults not to ever touch a wild animal behaving oddly, or a strange domestic animal behaving oddly.

You’d be surprised how many otherwise sensible people lose it when a cute furry animal is on their lawn and not running away.