Monday, July 6, 2009

Rabies is no joke

I just saw that movie Quarantine last week, and even though it was pretty much nonsense, I definitely learned something valuable: Rabies is no joke. 55,000 people die every year worldwide from rabies. The weird thing is, symptoms in humans could take several weeks to even a year before showing. You could have rabies for a long time before even knowing it. The thing is, once rabies symptoms start showing, death is pretty much 100%. Death almost invariably results 2-10 days after the first symptoms. There have only been 6 recorded survivors once rabies reaches that stage, not to mention having used experimental treatments. But in animals, symptoms show in about 3 days. So if you get bit by an animal, I would definitely get checked out or you could be finito if you wait too long. The further away from the brain that you get bit, the longer it takes for the virus to reach the brain and take effect, and the longer you have. Most human deaths are caused by bat bites. If it's any consolation at all, the number one carrier of rabies in the U.S. are skunks.

If there truly were to be some sort of apocalyptic zombie-like virus, I wouldn't be surprised if it was a mutated form of rabies that had highly accelerated symptoms. Just something to think about.

2 comments:

  1. There's a vaccine for rabies. However, the supply is a lil short. You only get it if you got bit by an animal.

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  2. I wonder if you can get rabies from a bear...although it probably wouldn't matter cuz you'd get torn to shreds anyways

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