My new worst nightmare: Getting rabies from vampire bats

My old one involved being eaten alive by frogs, but since that hasn’t happened anywhere (and if it has, I don’t want to know about it), it is being replaced by this one, from a CNN Health news report about 38 people who died from rabies after being bitten by vampire bats. This is so sad, as these people probably didn’t even know that they had been bitten, and would not have sought treatment even if they’d known about the dangers of rabies. And to add a final, horrible twist of fate’s knife, it seems like this might be a partially man-made problem:

He said researchers suspect that in some cases environmental degradation — including mining, logging or dam construction projects — may also be contributing to rabies outbreaks.

Now, although I absolutely love bats (OK, the evolutionary scientific idea of bats), rabies is a real phobia of mine. I mean, a virus that causes you to develop an irrational fear of water? How deep-down, strangely fucking weird is that? Also, this particular story combines rabies and the word ‘vampire’, already loaded with nightmarish connotations of evil and irreversible transformation after something bites you. Brrrrrrrggghhh.

I’m always amazed at the general levels of ignorance about this disease when it comes up in conversation, so herewith a little education:

Once symptoms start to show, rabies is 100% fatal and without known cure. Immunization greatly improves your chances, but general treatment is by post-exposure prophylaxis, which involves several vaccine shots over a 28-day period immediately after being exposed, before symptoms appear. This could be several months after being infected, even up to two years. Fail to do so, and you die. Horribly. But first you go insane. And experience severe pain and fear. And die. Horribly. Thirsty. Insane.

Here’s an extract from a case study, to illustrate why I fear this disease so much (if you’re a lazy reader, scan for bold):

On June 17, 1981 she was bitten on the ankle by a dog in New Delhi. On August 18, about two months later, she experienced the first prodromal symptoms. She became anxious and depressed, and it became impossible for her to drink more than small sips of liquid. While sleeping, she frequently sat up in bed suddenly, terrified. On August 19, she became confused, hallucinated, and was incontinent of urine. On August 20, she was unable to eat or drink and was taken to the hospital where she hallucinated and screamed in terror. Misdiagnosed as a psychiatric case, she was injected with a tranquilizer and sent home, however she repeatedly woke up screaming in fear and became so wild and agitated that her husband felt he could not deal with her by himself and took her to her mother’s house. She remained terrified, hallucinating and screaming in horror throughout the night. She had no water for almost three days. She fell into a coma the next morning, and died on August 23.

This is from Rabies: The Facts,  Kaplan et. al.

There is, however, one single case where someone who had not been vaccinated was cured after symptoms started to appear. Her name is Jeanna Giese, and she became the fist ever unvaccinated symptomatic rabies survivor after doctors induced coma to prevent the virus causing brain damage while her body built up an immune response to it. The whole story is here, but don’t count on it saving you – the procedure probably only works in very specific cases, and she is generally considered to have been lucky. Later attempts to repeat the procedure have failed.

So, spare a thought for the rural inhabitants of Venezuela , and stay away from wildlife in your own back yard. And for goodness’ sake, if something (anything) bites you – get to a hospital and don’t leave until they start treatment.