Rabies: a death in Indiana and a boy barking like a dog in Ghana

State of Indiana health officials report the 2nd human rabies death in 50 years. The victim was from Clark County and had not reported any exposures of concern. Unfortunately the disease had advanced too far for any treatment.

Testing at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention indicates the source of the Clark County infection was a bat.

And in the country of Ghana, on the African continent, residents of the Bongo district are trembling in fear as rabies infested dogs have bitten and killed 6 people, with 2 others currently in critical condition.

The horrific death of an 11-year-old boy on 19 Oct 2009 in Zorko, a suburb of the Bongo, brought the total number of deaths related to rabies to 6 within 5 days. According to an eyewitness, when the boy was brought to the hospital, he was literarily barking like a dog and behaving aggressively.

He said that because the case had advanced, the medical personnel could not offer any help except to dose him with sedatives just to ease the pains. His parents, out of frustration however, took the child home, where he died later the same day.

The very unfortunate thing is that the hospitals have no anti-rabies vaccine. According to a health official, 2 people from Namoo, a border community in the district, reported with cases of rabies on 20 Oct 2009 but were asked to go and buy the drug (vaccine) at Bolga for treatment. The victims could not afford the drug and so had to return home to await their painful death.

According to the official, anti-rabies vaccine sold in the open market costs around $70 US, an amount too costly for most people living in deprived communities such as Bongo. An official at the hospital who pleaded anonymity alleged that because the vaccine is expensive, some officials are hoarding the drug as a way of making money for themselves.

Though a relatively rare cause of death in the United States, 55,000 people die globally from this dreaded disease, mostly in Africa and Asia. That’s at rate of one person every 10 minutes.

Rabies is an acute viral infection that is transmitted to humans or other mammals usually through the saliva from a bite of an infected animal. It is also rarely contracted through breaks in the skin or contact with mucous membranes.

According to the Control of Communicable Diseases Manual, all mammals are susceptible to rabies. Raccoons, skunks, foxes, bats, dogs, coyotes and cats are the likely suspects. Other animals like otters and ferrets are also high risk. Mammals like rabbits, squirrels, rodents and opossums are rarely infected.

Some infected animals can appear very aggressive, attacking for no reason. Some may act very tame.

The symptoms of rabies are as follows. Initially, like in many diseases, the symptoms are non-specific; fever, headache and malaise. This may last several days. At the site of the bite there may be some pain and discomfort. Symptoms then progress to more severe: confusion, delirium, abnormal behavior and hallucinations. If it gets this far, the disease is nearly 100% fatal.

The only treatment for human exposure to rabies is rabies-specific immune globulin and rabies immunization. Appropriate treatment started soon after the exposure will protect an exposed person from the disease.
 

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