Army Campaigns Against Rabies, ‘Even Kittens Can Be Deadly’
- Posted on October 21, 2011 at 6:40pm by
Liz Klimas
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In response to the only member of the military to die of rabies since 1967 in the Vietnam war, the U.S. Army with the Center for Disease Control has launched an educational campaign alerting soldiers to the importance of having animal bites treated for rabies.
(Image: USAPHC)
Stars and Stripes has more:
In September, the Armed Forces Health Surveillance Center released a study reporting that service members sustained 20,522 animal bites from January 2001 to December 2010, or about 40 per week. Most were bitten in the United States, where rabies is rare.
Of the 643 troops bitten in Iraq or Afghanistan, only 117 received rabies vaccines, according to the report.
The report notes that some of those bites may have come from military working dogs, which are vaccinated against rabies. The report also stated that the military’s bite statistics are undoubtedly underestimated, since minor bites often go unreported.
Spc. Kevin Shumaker, 24, was bit by a stray dog while in Afghanistan, and Stripes reports he told his parents he had received three of the six rabies shots but not the final three because they were expired.
Shumaker died eight months after the bite. Rabies, according to the National Institute of Health, has an average three to seven week incubation period, during which little to no symptoms may be experienced, but incubation could take as long as seven years. NIH states that once symptoms become apparent the person rarely survives, usually undergoing respiratory failure within seven days; there is no treatment for rabies patients when exhibit symptoms.
According to NIH, those who have been bit by an animals should contact their doctor right away and will being shots of the vaccine over month; most patients also receive human rabies immunoglobulin.
[H/T Wired]
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flatbroke
Posted on October 23, 2011 at 7:25pmI Love my 3 cats and 1 dog, so i have them spayed /neutered and vaccinated for rabies every year, and i dont let my cats run, they go outside but never leave the yard, and if they try i go get them, they are good cats, and dog, and i take good care of them.
Report Post »CottonMPG
Posted on October 22, 2011 at 6:08pmThey should always give our military personnel preventative rabies vaccine just like animal control workers get. No matter how expensive it is it is worth it!!
Report Post »shift
Posted on October 22, 2011 at 1:44pmMy parents were doing charity work in Mexico when i was a kid, we used to have to get rabies vaccines once every 3 or 4 years. They were the most painful shot I can remember, I read somewhere that because the rabies incidence was so rare in the U.S. and other countries the drug companies that made it were not making a profit and stopped making it. Not sure if this is true but it seems strange to me that the military would not be able to get this vaccine for troops going over seas.
Report Post »Elena2010
Posted on October 22, 2011 at 12:34pmI’d like to know why the Army did not medivac that soldier to Germany for treatment?
Why did the medical officer not demand shipment of unexpired vaccine?
That man’s death was needless!
Report Post »bankerpapaw
Posted on October 22, 2011 at 11:35amNotamushroom, you can’t get the rabies shots until you have been bitten.
Report Post »circleDwagons
Posted on October 22, 2011 at 6:44pmyou can be vaccinated beforhand. they vaccinate soldiers for everything else And that soldier should have been better treated
Report Post »Moosedrool
Posted on October 23, 2011 at 12:23amThere is a preventative vaccination for humans. Veterinary personnel and animal control thugs, uh people get them before exposure. Much better than the gammaglobulin post exposure. We had our titer tested every 2 years and received a booster if our titer was too low.
Report Post »bankerpapaw
Posted on October 22, 2011 at 11:33amI was bitten by a “cute” puppy when I was in Vietnam. I ended up having to take the rabies shots.
Report Post »Be careful, guys.
Dakotagal
Posted on October 22, 2011 at 9:27amSad to say, cats and kittens can carry rabies, and the maddening part is that there really is no definitive test that an animal is rabid unless an autopsy is done after death. We just had a story locally where a woman adopted an apparently healthy kitten from Wake Co. shelter and a week or so later, it started acting sick. The kitten did have rabies and the poor woman’s entire household of dogs, kids, etc had been exposed during the time the kitty was in her home. I work in dog rescue and we acquire many of our dogs from the same shelter and our adopters were rightly concerned about whether they might be getting a dog who was still in the rabies incubation period and not having any symptoms. We checked .. there is no way to know! A human who has been exposed must have a series of painful and very expensive rabies shots and if their household pets are not fully up to date on their rabies innoculations, they must be quarantined for six months! Have had several news stories about such pets who were exposed to rabid fox or raccoon here in NC this summer. I think the soldier story could well be factual.
Report Post »NOTAMUSHROOM
Posted on October 22, 2011 at 9:09amThis is stupid. Give the soldiers a rabies vaccine BEFORE they go overseas, where animals are not cared for as well as animals are here in America. Has long lasting efficacy and is inexpensive compared to the post exposure protocol. Certainly a heck of a lot safer and cheaper than the anthrax vaccine they used to give the troops.
Another great example of our reactive, rather than PROactive government.
Report Post »diablosho
Posted on October 22, 2011 at 10:07amWe get SMALLPOX and ANTHRAX vaccines, so why not Rabies!?! It somehow seems more likely we’d come in contact with Rabies far more often than Smallpox or Anthrax!!! Great point you made!
Report Post »Sicialian Eyeball
Posted on October 22, 2011 at 8:26amKill every damn thing that moves over there. That will solve the problem. Start with muslims and work down to the bugs.
Report Post »ProbIemSoIver
Posted on October 22, 2011 at 9:27amLet me see you kill a cat or dog with provocation. You better have I.D. to notify the hospital of who you are, because you will be unable to speak for quite some time. You Loser !!!!
Report Post »NOT A CRAZY
Posted on October 22, 2011 at 2:25amHmmmmm…did not complete series because vaccine was expired? Is it better to have expired vaccine to complete the series or to die because you did not complete the series? Thank you FDA and members of the military medical community for making the right choice. Now the rest of the military will not even be allowed to have a mascot in the field that may actually save their life.
Report Post »lukerw
Posted on October 22, 2011 at 1:24amfubar!!!
Report Post »pamela kay
Posted on October 22, 2011 at 12:35amSomehow, I am not buying this. It seems unlikely. Especially here in the US. I work for a vet and I have Never seen any cat with rabies. I am not saying that it isn‘t possible but I haven’t seen it. I love all animals and try to help all in need. Every animal that we have are throw aways. If people would be responsible and spay and neuter there would not be an overpopulation of cats. I am fortunate that I work for a vet. I trap all strays and they are tested, vacinated and either spayed or neutered. Just because they are “barn cats” or ferrell doesn’t mean they should be neglected as far as vet care goes. In fact they need protection even more than the ones kept inside. There are plenty of groups that will do the sugeries for little of nothing. When people start being responsible the problem could be under control. And I know allot of you will make fun of my opinion but that is how I feel and what I believe.
Report Post »banjarmon
Posted on October 22, 2011 at 12:53amGood for you Pamela
Report Post »3 dogs. 3 cats. 6 gopher tortoise are under my care
NOT A CRAZY
Posted on October 22, 2011 at 2:26amYou do not know what you are talking about. Cats are one of the biggest spreaders of rabies and it mostly because cat-lovers let their unvaccinated cats out of the house. I have a cure for cat rabies and it weighs 39 – 40 grams.
Report Post »Dr.Will.Who
Posted on October 22, 2011 at 8:37amI think your point about caring for the strays keeping disease down as well as providing for their own happiness and comfort is valid, but to not believe that rabies can occur is horribly narrow minded and not reflected in the world around you. Even in the U.S. rabies occurs. This article is talking about a whole different culture where animals don’t go to the vets for vaccines regularly if ever. It’s not just this poor specialist who died, but children who are bitten and have no access to vaccines. The loss of this specialist is embarassing. If he went for help, and they took it seriously enough to give him 3 vaccines, they damn well should have ensured they got him the other 3. Blowing it off, in this case, cost him his life. Is rabies a huge risk to our soldiers? Probably not, since he’s the first and only casualty. But every soldier is worth protecting, and for them to half ass the treatment is egregious. Is rabies a huge risk in the U.S.? Probably not, unless you’re the kid bitten by the bat, racoon, horse, kitten, etc… who happens to have it. I know two veterinarians who were exposed by a stray kitten in their practice. Fortunately, they recognized the risk, had the kitten’s brain tested, and the whole staff received treatment… no casualties. Don’t be ignorant of risks, even if small, when they’re fatal.
Report Post »circleDwagons
Posted on October 22, 2011 at 6:50pm@ pam. hope you have been vaccinated. if not your boss isn’t very good
Report Post »Moosedrool
Posted on October 23, 2011 at 12:29amPam,
Report Post »I was a vet tech for 14 years and our only exposure to rabies was from a dog that psychotically killed skunks and an unvaccinated cat. After the cat incident, all workers at the clinic were vaccinated and then their blood titer tested every couple of years. One of the assistants had to undergo the globulin tx because she was not vaccinated at the time. It does happen.
Walkabout
Posted on October 22, 2011 at 12:35amBest article
http://www.orovillemr.com/news/ci_18908220
Report Post »NOT A CRAZY
Posted on October 22, 2011 at 2:34amIt is funny that you posted an article out of a Butte County paper since Chico’s only proven animal-human rabies transmission came from one of their precious feral park cats.
Report Post »DELTAJOHN
Posted on October 22, 2011 at 6:00amNOT A CRAZY……………….
Report Post »So how do you tell if the cat is rabid or not, before you indiscriminately dispose of it? How do you explain to the little 5 year old girl across the street that you shot her kitty because you “thought” her cat was rabid. You are an idiot! Call animal control if you are in doubt.
Walkabout
Posted on October 22, 2011 at 12:27amSpc. Kevin Shumaker death look’s needless.
Milwaukee protocol
http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=hope-for-rabies-victims-unorthodox-coma-therapy-shows-promise
Report Post »Walkabout
Posted on October 22, 2011 at 12:24am8 months? The story is incomplete. You can cure someone who has rabies after symptoms appear, I think. The protocol is to put them in an induced coma & to use a variety of drugs . It was done with a teenage girl in Wisconsin who was bit by a bat.
Report Post »NOT A CRAZY
Posted on October 22, 2011 at 2:35amYou cannot cure rabies. That was a unique case.
Report Post »freedom4ever
Posted on October 22, 2011 at 11:33pma child in ohio had rabies and i don’t know what the the hospital did but he survived! he was in the hospital in columbus somewhere i think. very rare that they make it through – i figure many were praying for him.
Report Post »omglol
Posted on October 21, 2011 at 11:58pmI hate cats, we had a couple out at FOB Normandy a friend of mine would feed every night. He left to come home before I did and out came the slingshot. 2 nights of that and we never seen them again. These Army commercials and flyers just crack me up, I‘m not saying the navy’s better, I’m just saying.
Report Post »NOT A CRAZY
Posted on October 22, 2011 at 2:36amWe both hate cats. Go Army, just saying.
Report Post »WAR PIGS CRAWLING
Posted on October 22, 2011 at 8:44amThat makes three of us….Go Navy….an Semper Fi
Report Post »SGT Rock
Posted on October 21, 2011 at 11:14pmThis is just so sad that our soldiers can’t even get the rabies shot series due to inadequate logistics. While serving under Clinton we did not even have the logistical support to have maneuvers. We had to “simulate” a lot of our training due to budget cuts. Betcha same thing is happening under this liberal leadership. Shame on you for letting this service member to die to a preventable problem.
Report Post »Islesfordian
Posted on October 21, 2011 at 11:09pmKittens are nowhere near as dangerous as the OWS hippies. They’re ALL rabid as far as I can tell.
Report Post »circleDwagons
Posted on October 22, 2011 at 6:53pmall are fleabaggers
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