- Hello Jeff - I have not posted information on rabies,
especially from areas of the world where rabies is endemic. However, due
to the fact that the numbers of human deaths are so high, at this time
numbering 22, and due to the fact that the bat attacks on humans, and livestock
and pets is caused by deforestation, I thought this report might be pertinent.
-
- There have been a few deaths from Rabies in the US,
I believe two in California, due to bat bites. This fact is one more reason
I use mosquito netting over my bed. The bat bites in the US are mainly
from small bats that feed at night. People are generally bit while they
sleep and do not even realize they have been bit.
-
- Brazil's environment is being rapidly altered by humans
and losing the rain forest displaces many animals. It also is another
reason why global climate, including the US climate, is rapidly changing.
-
- Patricia Doyle
-
- RABIES, HUMANS, VAMPIRE BATS - BRAZIL (PARA) (05)
-
- A ProMED-mail post
- ProMED-mail is a program of the
- International Society for Infectious Diseases
-
- Vampire Bats May Have Been Responsible for 22 Deaths
in Para state
-
- BRAZIL (Reuters) -- Up to 22 people may have died after
being bitten by rabies-carrying vampire bats in Brazil's Amazon state of
Para, scientists say. Amiraldo Pinheiro, director of Para state's epidemic
research centre, said 17 deaths from rabies had been confirmed in people
known to have been bitten by bats. In 5 more cases the deceased showed
typical rabies symptoms but were buried without an autopsy. 15 of the confirmed
deaths were in the remote riverside Portel area, next to the world's biggest
estuarine archipelago of Marajo and 2 more, including the latest on 19
May 2004, in Viseu region some 280 miles (450 km) to the east.
-
- Pinheiro said epidemiologists from the state health authority
found about 1130 people who had been bitten by the thumb-sized bats over
the past 12 months in Viseu and about 600 people in Portel. Health ministry
representatives arrived in Para on Mon 24 May 3004 to help study the outbreak.
-
- Rabies has an incubation period of [up to] a year, during
which vaccine has to be applied. Otherwise, rabies leads to death in 100
percent of cases. [It is generally considered that the incubation period
for rabies is variable depending on species and site of bite, and may extend
up to one year. Post-exposure vaccination should be carried out as soon
after exposure as possible. - Mod.CP] All bite victims received vaccines
and other anti-rabies treatment [immunoglobulin?], and Pinheiro said the
situation was now under control with an awareness campaign among the population.
-
- "Cattle and pets deaths will show whether bats keep
attacking, but we hope there will be no more deaths among humans,"
he said. Deforestation is one of the suspected reasons for bat attacks
on humans, as it could have changed bats' migration patterns. Vampire bats
normally feed on the blood of large birds and sleeping cattle, lapping
it from cuts they make with their teeth. They often transmit rabies to
cattle. They are not aggressive and fly away if scared.
-
- http://news.ft.com/servlet/ContentServer?pagename=FT.com/WireFeed/Wire
Feed&c=WireFeed&cid=1084193693544?
-
- --
- ProMED-mail
- promed@promedmail.org
-
- This report confirms that vampire bats have been directly
responsible for
- most or perhaps all of the recent human rabies deaths
in this region of
- Brazil. - Mod.CP
-
- Patricia A. Doyle, PhD
- Please visit my "Emerging Diseases" message
board at: http://www.clickitnews.com/ubbthreads/postlist.php?Cat=&Board=emergingdiseases
- Zhan le Devlesa tai sastimasa
- Go with God and in Good Health
|
