Pre-exposure Rabies Immunization

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Ranger Bill
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Re: Pre-exposure Rabies Immunization

Post by Ranger Bill »

Flesh Thorn wrote:I am surprised that it took 10 replies until this thread degenerated into comments about beastality. :lol: :lol: :lol: I love this place !
Yeah, what ever happened to standards?
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Flesh Thorn
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Re: Pre-exposure Rabies Immunization

Post by Flesh Thorn »

Thank you Rangermom.
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K.Ingraham
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Re: Pre-exposure Rabies Immunization

Post by K.Ingraham »

Thanks RangerMom. That's very helpful.

As a general rule, the CDC website contains reams of health related information & is an excellent starting point when researching the latest email-spam promoting ignorant hysteria like the "vaccinations cause autism" scare and similar BS.
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hobbit
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Re: Pre-exposure Rabies Immunization

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Rangermom wrote:As a vet tech and Animal Control I have the pre -exposure course. The advantage is that in the case of actual exposure you need only recieve one to two post exposure shots as opposed to the normal course of six to eight.Some people only require one pre-exposure (like me) while others require annual boosters. My titer tests high every year even 15 years later. If you are often in situations of possible exposue then I reccommend you have it done. Post exposure sucks as they are not necessarily painful but side effects range from a week long migraine type headache to a week of vomiting and feeling like dog shit. My son had exposure to a positive bat when he was ten and had to undergo 8 rounds. First one goes into site of exposure then subsequent ones go IM all over alternating sites.ie: first in site next in arm next in thigh next in lower back and so on. FYI the common brown bat tests positive at a rate of 30 to 40 percent of population. Next highest vectors are skunks, raccoon, opossum, fox, feral cats, coyotes. You can find good info on the CDC website. Positive exposure almost ALWAYS ends in death. There are only a few RARE cases of a human surviving active rabies exposure. If you do suspect an animal of being rabid DO NOT DESTROY THE BRAIN!! the only way to test an animalis to survey brain tissue. Your local health department will test. Bring the head in a sealed container to either Animal Control or Health Department or your vet . If the brain is untestabe they will reccommend post exposure. Remember that you do not have to be bitten. Rabies is transmitted through bodily fluids via any opening. You can contract from exposure to an open cut,any mucous membrane, oral ingestion. Any warm blooded animal can be a carrier. Rabies manifests within ten days and once symptoms appear cannot be reversed.
Hope this info helps. Also post exposure is not a guarantee. works 99 percent of the time but depends on time after exposure and how strong the strain. An animal does not always exhibit symptoms until late stages of the disease as well
This is really interesting, especially that part about brown bats being 30%-40% positive for rabies. Whoa! I live in a remote part of Colorado on 11 acres. Sometimes at night I'll go outside and shine my 1 million candlepower light straight up in the sky. Within seconds dozens of brown bats are swirling 50 ft. up around the light cone. I imagine hundreds visit my property every night. Maybe that's why I hardly ever see any moths around here. I have a six month-old puppy. Like every other dog owner, I took her in for her first rabies immunization at 9 weeks of age. She got her booster a few weeks later. It seems like a totally painless procedure for dogs. I've never had one get sick from a rabies shot. So I'm wondering why humans concerned about rabies exposure can't get the same immunizaion series? It sure seems like a no-pain no-bother proposition for all of our dogs.
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Flesh Thorn
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Re: Pre-exposure Rabies Immunization

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Interesting read : http://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/preview/mmwrhtml/mm5245a4.htm" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Especially this :
The patient was an office worker who for the previous 6 years had lived, worked, and recreated in areas in which raccoon rabies was endemic. However, extensive interviews with family, friends, and co-workers revealed that he had no specific exposure to terrestrial animals likely to be infected with the raccoon rabies virus variant. The patient did not spend much time outdoors, but the potential existed for encountering a rabid mammal while camping or in a trash can, wood pile, or other outdoor environment.
You would think that if he had been bitten he would have mentioned it to someone , " Hey guess what happened to me today ? I was bit by this raccoon while taking out the trash !"

Fact : Rabies is the 10th leading cause of death world wide.
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dbmtrman
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Re: Pre-exposure Rabies Immunization

Post by dbmtrman »

Make sure you get your rabies tag when you are done though
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Re: Pre-exposure Rabies Immunization

Post by panthersix »

Very educational. I'm glad I got the damn bats outta my attic and screened over the vents!

One summer when I was a Park Warden (Canadian version of a Park Ranger) we humanely trapped 19 skunks in a "have-a-heart" wire cage traps in the 113 camp site area. Told the kiddies and the parents that we were going to take the skunks to the Ganaraska Forest and let them go. Then we drove to the other side of the park and threw the little buggers, cage and all into the lake. Once they were drowned, took their little stinky bodies to the dump!

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Flesh Thorn
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Re: Pre-exposure Rabies Immunization

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On the front page of our local paper today, a women was bitten by a fox while sitting outside her home. Her husband shot and killed it and it was later confirmed to have rabies.
Last edited by Flesh Thorn on June 5th, 2010, 6:47 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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hobbit
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Re: Pre-exposure Rabies Immunization

Post by hobbit »

Can racoons spread rabies like this? And if they can, don't you think PETA or somebody like that should have a "prophylactics for horny little racoons" program?

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whocares175
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Re: Pre-exposure Rabies Immunization

Post by whocares175 »

get the rabies shot ahead of time. rabies is a disease that is easily preventable but 100% fatal once cns signs and symptoms appear. the virus works its way to the nerve and then speeds its way to the brain. sometimes you have a very long time to get the vaccine series depending on where you get bit (for instance a bite in the calf muscle will take longer to reach the brain than a bite on the back of the neck). yes, if bitten you will still need boosters however instead of getting the full series of 5 you'll only receive 2 or 3. the rabies vaccine is administered to people on the same schedule as it is to animals, initial then 1st year then every 3 years.
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