Current Events > Man who woke up with bat on neck dies in Illinois 1st rabies case since 1950s

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https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/illinois-man-who-woke-bat-neck-dies-state-s-1st-n1280291

An Illinois man who awoke to find a bat on his neck weeks ago died this month in the state's first human case of rabies since 1954, health officials said Tuesday. The Lake County man, who was in his 80s, found the animal on his neck in mid-August and declined treatment, but a month later he experienced symptoms of rabies and died, the Illinois Public Health Department said in a statement. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention confirmed the diagnosis Tuesday. Only one to three human rabies cases are reported in the U.S. each year. Once clinical symptoms appear, the disease is almost always fatal, according to the CDC. The man in Lake County suffered symptoms of rabies, including neck pain, difficulty controlling his arms, finger numbness and difficulty speaking, the state health department said. A bat colony was found in his home.

"If you think you may have been exposed to rabies, immediately seek medical attention," the health department's director, Dr. Ngozi Ezike, said in a statement. He and others said they hoped the unfortunate case would raise awareness. A vaccine can be given after exposure, and 30,000 to 60,000 people in the U.S. get treatment every year, the CDC says. In the U.S., most rabies deaths in humans come after exposure to bats, according to the CDC, but any mammal can get it. Other common wildlife vulnerable to rabies are raccoons, skunks and foxes, it said. Worldwide, rabies causes the most deaths in Asia and Africa, and dogs are the primary source of transmission to humans, according to the World Health Organization.



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Rabies is something where you do not wait around to see what happens. By the time you start displaying symptoms, you're already dead.
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Fucking around with rabies is incredibly stupid, what a terrible way to go.

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Lebronwon posted...

declined treatment

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mobilebloechel posted...

If only he just had a trusty Pit Bull

If he had a pitbull then 3 days later he'd have a rabid pitbull.

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Yeah, I don't see why he declined treatment. Potential rabies is not something you want to fuck around with, because once you start showing symptoms, you're dead already.

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UnholyMudcrab posted...

Rabies is something where you do not wait around to see what happens. By the time you start displaying symptoms, you're already dead.

I was reading about that just the other day. Seems like a horrible way to go out.

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rabies has a 99% death rate if untreated

scary stuff

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VigorouslySwish posted...

rabies has a 99% death rate if untreated

scary stuff

No. Untreated it's 100% death.

There's a "Milwaukee procedure" which involves putting you into a coma and submerged in ice water to keep your temperature down until you recover. Only a handful of people made it out of that. It has also not been shown to work on rabies transmitted through dogs which is more deadly to humans than contracting it directly from a bat.

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^Additionally, I've read that even the handful of survivors had permanent brain damage.

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Rabies is scurry. Especially the hydrophobia

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Solar_Crimson posted...

Yeah, I don't see why he declined treatment.

Maybe the $$$?

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Smackems posted...

Rabies is scurry. Especially the hydrophobia

Everything about it terrible. Like, get me some euthanasia right now terrible. There's no hope for survival. Just 48 hours of excruciating torture and death.

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UnholyMudcrab posted...

Rabies is something where you do not wait around to see what happens. By the time you start displaying symptoms, you're already dead.

Nani?!

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