But that link also says this is down from a 100 per year earlier in
the century.

"In this century, the number of human deaths in the United States
attributed to rabies has declined from 100 or more each year to an
average of 2 or 3 each year. Two programs have been responsible for
this decline. First, animal control and vaccination programs begun in
the 1940's and oral rabies vaccination programs in the 2000’s have
eliminated domestic dogs as reservoirs of rabies in the United States.
Second, effective human rabies vaccines and immunolglobins have been
developed "

So while you're right, now a days you stand a better chance of getting
struck by lightning, it's only because of an effective & active
ongoing re & post infection vaccination program.

That link also says that if you have contact with a bat, there's a 24%
probability it's rabid. I'm not sure I want to play those odds.

In my county, they've identified 16 rabid bats so far this year. An
all time record.

-dickm

On Tue, 09 Sep 2008 11:42:44 -0500, Jangchub
wrote:

Okay, so let's see...country with three hundred million and counting
humans, there have been 28 cases since 1995...I'd venture to guess
most of those were dumb humans seeing a sick animal and trying to pet
it or touch it. So, if a percentage of those were directly caused by
human stupidity, what does that leave us? You have a better chance of
being raped, killed, hit by a train, die in a car accident, from
disease caused by sexual contact, and any number of human diseases
which end in death.

Thank you for the link.





On Tue, 09 Sep 2008 10:00:50 -0500, dicko
wrote:


The CDC says there are 2 to 3 human rabies cases every year
http://www.cdc.gov/rabies/epidemiology.html

There have been 28 cases since 1995.

-dickm



On Tue, 09 Sep 2008 08:51:01 -0500, Jangchub
wrote:

In other words, one noted case in 25 years.



On Tue, 09 Sep 2008 07:03:49 -0400, Pat Kiewicz
wrote:

Jangchub said:


On Mon, 08 Sep 2008 19:16:46 -0400, Frank
frankdotlogullo@comcastperiodnet wrote:


Be careful - they can carry rabies. I know a doctor in Pittsburgh that
had one fly down on her and scratch her leg in a hospital parking lot.
She had to undergo the rabies shots.

As Paghat was awake and aware, that's not an issue with this particular
incident.


How many cases of rabies from bats have there been in the last 40
years?

The most recent case of human rabies in Michigan (1983) is believed to
have been the result of a bat bite.

http://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/preview/mmwrhtml/00000052.htm

Bats are the animal most frequently diagnosed with rabies in the state of Michigan.


http://www.michigan.gov/images/emerg...p_238906_7.jpg

I just recently an article about rabies in my morning paper. There is a nationwide
shortage of human rabies vaccine.

http://www.freep.com/apps/pbcs.dll/a...WS05/809070490

From the article:
"Michigan bats have tiny teeth that may not leave a bite mark, said Shane Bies,
an epidemiologist with the Oakland County Health Division.

"'A sleeping individual may not be able to tell they were bitten. Or they may
think it's an insect bite,' Bies said.

"'We want people to call their local animal-control office or police department'
with the goal of catching the animal and having it tested, he said."
.......

If you *wake up* with a bat in the room, the last thing you should want
to dois shoo it out the window. In that case, the Health Department would
recommend the full series of shots. If the bat is submitted for testing and is
negative, you can avoid that.

According to the Organization for Bat Conservation:
"As long as the bat never touches anyone, there is no need to worry
about transmitting any diseases or viruses. The Center for Disease Control
recommends that anyone that comes in direct, unprotected, contact with
wild mammals should receive rabies post-exposure treatment from a
health-care provider, if the animal is not able to be caught and tested.
Rabies post-exposure treatment should also be administered in situations
in which there is a reasonable probability that such contact occurred (e.g.,
a sleeping person awakes to find a bat in the room or an adult witnesses a
bat in the room with a previously unattended child, mentally disabled person,
or an intoxicated person)."

http://www.batconservation.org/content/Batproblems.html
Victoria

"If the present and the future
were contingent on the past,
then the present and the future
would have existed in the past."

-Lama Tsongkhapa

http://gotbodhicitta-wangmo.blogspot.com/
Victoria

"If the present and the future
were contingent on the past,
then the present and the future
would have existed in the past."

-Lama Tsongkhapa

http://gotbodhicitta-wangmo.blogspot.com/