[Jacob-list] Fwd: PRO/AH/EDR> Rabies, human and bat - USA (Tennessee): alert
Katherine Wisor
creeksendfarm at mac.com
Sat Sep 14 06:49:33 EDT 2002
Worth reading , Katherine
Begin forwarded message:
> From: ProMED-mail <promed at promed.isid.harvard.edu>
> Date: Fri Sep 13, 2002 9:56:54 PM US/Eastern
> To: promed-ahead-edr at promedmail.org
> Subject: PRO/AH/EDR> Rabies, human and bat - USA (Tennessee): alert
>
>
> RABIES, HUMAN AND BAT - USA (TENNESSEE): ALERT
> **********************************************
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>
> [1]
> Date: Fri 13 Sep 2002
> From: ProMED-mail <promed at promedmail.org>
> Source: WKRN Nashville, Fri 13 Sep 2002 [edited]
> <http://www.wkrn.com/Global/story.asp?S=933364&nav=1ugBBDmX>
>
>
> Growing Rabies Concerns in Franklin County
> ------------------------------------------
> A rabies control officer is being treated for rabies exposure less
> than 2
> weeks after a teenage boy died from the virus [see report below].
> Another
> bat with rabies has surfaced in Franklin County. The question is, did
> the
> bat infect the last man to touch it? Parents and one man who handles
> animals every day are on edge. "When I knocked the bat off, he came
> right
> down and scraped across my arm." In his 23 years on the job, the rabies
> control officer has never come so uncomfortably close to rabies.
>
> Franklin County's rabies control officer is getting treatment after
> handling a bat that was, in his words, "red hot" with rabies. On
> Wednesday
> night [11 Sep 2002], a Franklin County resident pulled a bat from her
> pool.
> "And the reason I called the hospital is because I was scared. I'd
> heard
> about the little boy who had died," she said. She has insisted the bat
> be
> shipped to a laboratory for testing. The same rabies test will be done
> on
> the head of a skunk turned over to the rabies control officer on
> Thursday
> by a concerned homeowner. This rise in rabies awareness can be
> attributed
> to the death of the 13-year-old boy, who died on 31 Aug 2002 after
> being
> bitten by a bat, which his father said the teenager carried home from a
> fishing trip.
>
> Rabies is 100 percent treatable if it's caught in time, but nearly
> always
> fatal once symptoms arise. Experts say the best medicine is prevention.
> "Don't pick up dead animals. Don't mess with any live, wild animals.
> Just
> stay away. Go away from them," said a Franklin County executive. He
> stated
> that Franklin County has never had a rabies outbreak of this
> magnitude, but
> he stopped short of calling it an epidemic. He said the county is
> trying to
> educate the public that even the most seasoned animal handlers are not
> immune.
>
> The 13-year-old boy's death is only the second in Tennessee since
> 1955. His
> father said his son denied, repeatedly, he'd been bitten by the bat.
> The
> health department said you can get bitten and not even know it.
> Parents are
> urged to talk to their children.
>
> [Byline: Brent Frazier]
>
> ******
> [2]
> Date: Thu 5 Sep 2002
> From: ProMED-mail <promed at promedmail.org>
> Source: Knox News, Associated Press report, Mon 2 Sep 2002 [edited]
> <http://www.knoxnews.com/kns/state/article/
> 0,1406,KNS_348_1362830,00.html>
>
>
> Winchester Boy Dies from Rabies Thought to Be From Bat Bite
> -------------------------------------------------
> A Franklin County boy has died from rabies that family members suspect
> he
> contracted from a bat 2-1/2 months ago. The 13-year-old Winchester boy
> died
> on Sat 31 Aug 2002 at Vanderbilt University Medical Center; the first
> human
> rabies death in the state in 8 years, health officials say. He was
> taken to
> Vanderbilt on 25 Aug 2002 when doctors at the Southern Tennessee
> Medical
> Center in Winchester could not determine what was wrong with him, said
> his
> stepfather. The boy had complained of high fever and severe headaches.
> His
> stepfather said he believes his stepson was infected in mid-June 2002.
> "He
> went fishing, which was walking distance from our home," he said. "On
> his
> way back, he came across a bat and picked it up and brought it into the
> house." He said he didn't know his stepson had the live bat in the
> home for
> 2 or 3 hours. It was released back into the woods.
>
> Dr. William Schaffner, chairman of Vanderbilt's department of
> preventative
> medicine, said the testing procedure takes time. First a specimen is
> sent
> to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta, then
> results are sent back to the hospital. Schaffner said anyone who has
> contact with wild animals -- especially bats, skunks, raccoons, or
> foxes --
> should see a doctor or call the public health department. "Bats
> apparently
> are special because they can bite you and you might not be aware of it
> because their teeth are so tiny," he said.
>
> --
> ProMED-mail
> <promed at promedmail.org>
>
> [The evidence in this case for contraction of rabies by the handling
> of a
> captive bat is circumstantial. However, in the United States 24 (74
> percent) of 32 cases since 1990 have been attributed to bat-associated
> variants of rabies virus, notwithstanding the fact that history of a
> bite
> was established in only 2 cases. Although bat rabies virus variants
> can be
> transmitted secondarily from terrestrial mammals, the lack of other
> animal-bite histories and the rarity of bat rabies virus variants
> found in
> terrestrial mammals suggest that this means of transmission is rare.
>
> The following advice is taken from the MMWR report referenced below.
> Although rabies is usually transmitted by a bite, persons may minimize
> the
> medical implications of a bat bite. Unlike bites from larger animals,
> the
> trauma of a bat bite is unlikely to warrant seeking medical care.
> Unless
> the potential for rabies exposure is known to the patient, rabies
> post-exposure prophylaxis (PEP) will not be received. In all cases
> where
> bat-human contact has occurred or is suspected, the bat should be
> collected
> and tested for rabies. If the bat is unavailable, the need for PEP
> should
> be assessed by public health officials. PEP should be considered after
> direct contact between a human and a bat, unless the exposed person
> can be
> certain a bite, scratch, or mucous membrane exposure did not occur.
> PEP may
> be considered for persons who were in the same room as a bat and who
> might
> be unaware that a bite or direct contact had occurred (e.g., when a
> sleeping person wakes to find a bat in the room or an adult witnesses
> a bat
> in the room with an unattended child, mentally disabled person, or
> intoxicated person). PEP is not warranted when direct contact between a
> human and a bat did not occur. Seeing a bat or being in the vicinity of
> bats does not constitute an exposure. - Mod.CP]
>
> [see also:
> Rabies, human - USA (California) 20020401.3857
> Rabies, human - USA (California) (02) 20020403.3870
> 2000
> ---
> Rabies, human - USA (California) 20000928.1677
> Rabies, human - USA (California) (03) 20001003.1704
> Rabies, human - USA (Georgia) 20001015.1767
> Rabies, human - USA (Minnesota) 20001031.1896
> Rabies, human - USA (New York) 20001006.1717
> Rabies, human - USA (New York) (02) 20001012.1746
> Rabies, human - USA (Wisconsin) 20001130.2084
> Rabies, human - USA: MMWR reports 20001218.2215
> Rabies, human exposure - USA (Texas) 20000621.1012
> Rabies, human exposure - USA (Texas) (02) 20000626.1060
> 1998
> ----
> Rabies, human: 1997 - USA (Texas & New Jersey) 19980117.0134
> 1997
> ----
> Rabies, human, bat - USA (Kentucky, Montana) 1996 19970510.0969
> Rabies, human, bat - USA (New Jersey) 19971027.2196
> Rabies, human, bat - USA (Texas) 19971101.2230
> Rabies, human, bat - USA (Texas) (02) 19971103.2248
> Rabies, human, risk from bat urine (02) 19971118.2325
> Rabies, human, risk from bat urine (03) 19971125.2366
> Rabies, human, risk from bat urine (04) 19971204.2421
> Rabies, human, risk from bat urine (05) 19971208.2446
> Rabies, human, risk from bat urine: RFI 19971111.2280
> Rabies, human - USA (Washington) 19970330.0671
> 1996
> ----
> Rabies, human - Florida, USA 19960826.1474
> 1995
> ----
> Rabies, human - Conn. USA 19951003.0906]
> ...........mpp/cp/pg/dk
>
>
>
>
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Katherine Wisor RN < Creeks End Farm>
400 Dawn Circle Charlotte , North Carolina, 28213-6810
Phone:704-598-8373
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