In article , Cheryl Perkins
wrote:

wrote:
snip
I always thought that the classic symptom of rabies was fear
of water, of liquids, which this man had. Not common knowledge?

I thought so.

The report makes it all seem so casual. The infectious disease
specialist says to check for rabies and why are they taking
their time? He's dead by the next day! Check for rabies is like
checking for bubonic plague, it's not a causal affair.

It's scary. This sort of lackadaisical incompetence I see a lot
of even in big northern cities with so-called world-class
medical centers.

But the water phobia, that's a dead giveaway for rabies, is it not?

No, it doesn't happen in all cases.


I don't know. There are probably other conditions which result in
hydrophobia. And they train doctors to think of horses, not zebras, when
they hear hoofbeats. In other words, not to be distracted from the
obvious
by the possibility of something really rare. I'm a bit ambivalent about
stuff like this. Some doctors are clearly and provably incompentant, but
all of them are human, and all of them miss things sometimes. Not doing
the rabies test immediately does sound odd, but there could be reasons
for that, too, I don't expect it's the kind of thing they can do instantly
for
instant results. And the results wouldn't have made a bit of difference.

The rules for treatment are to start it immediately if the animal can't
be found, if the animal is killed and the brain examined, or an animal
under observation starts to show symptoms.

Isn't it impossible, or very nearly so, to survive rabies once the
symptoms are obvious? I think one person has done so in all of history.

IIRC, there's one definite survivor who received none of the preventive
treatment. There are a slightly larger number, probably under 10, who
survived after getting the treatment late.

You have to have the treatment right after the injury; in fact, I think
they start the treatment before they had the suspect animal tested.

Correct, especially when they don't have the suspect animal. They will
typically observe a pet with a current rabies immunization for 10 days,
and, if there are no symptoms, not treat at all, and hopefully return
the animal to its home.


A lot of the time when I read of some mistake, even a fatal one, I think
'There but for the grace of God go I', because I've made a lot of
mistakes
in my times, and one or to might have been fatal, if I hadn't been lucky.
Not medical mistakes; I'm not a medical professional. But in spite of all
their training, they're still human, even the best of them.