Tag Archives | rabies

Rabid Beaver Mauls Virginia Woman

By Matt Staggs on September 7, 2012 in News 13

Picture: Pearson Scott Foresman (PD)

An 83 year-old Falls Church, VA woman is recovering from grueling injuries resulting from a rabid beaver attack. The creature chewed chunks out of her leg and nearly bit off one of her thumbs.

The creature knocked Lillian Peterson off her feet as she was climbing out of Lake Barcroft after a swim. The 83-year-old woman twisted around to see what attacked her and noticed one thing: large, orange teeth.

A 35-pound, 24-inch rabid beaver had bitten her on the back of the leg and would not let go, sparking an ordeal that lasted more than 20 minutes Tuesday evening. The Falls Church woman and a friend battled the animal with canoe paddles, a stick and bare hands as it came at them again and again. Peterson was seriously injured.

Read on, Eager Beaver.… Read the rest

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Rabies Antibodies Detected Among Some Peruvians

By Disinformation on August 3, 2012 in News 9

Via NPR:

Left untreated, infection with rabies virus almost always results in a painful death. There has been some limited success with experimental treatment regimens (notably the Milwaukee Protocol), but these are exceptions to the rule: Once the symptoms begin to manifest, the only options left for treatment are palliative in nature. Recently, though, scientists discovered a small group of Peruvians who carry rabies antibodies. They’re not sure why they do, but one theory is that repeated exposure to the virus through the bites of vampire bats may have helped them gradually develop immunity. NPR has the story:

In remote regions of the Amazon jungle, small communities of people live near bat roosts, and rabies infections are relatively common among them. At least five outbreaks killed 19 people in the Peruvian Amazon in 2009.

So a team from the CDC, lead by disease ecologist Amy Gilbert, went to two villages near these outbreaks looking for signs of rabies exposure in healthy people.

… Read the rest

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Warmer Weather May Lead to Uptick in Rabies Cases

By Matt Staggs on July 26, 2012 in News 3

Wired.com is calling it the “summer of hate”: An increase in rabies cases may (or may not) be linked to the heatwave enveloping much of the nation:

…health officials also point to 2012’s particularly mild winter. Higher-than-average temperatures likely led common rabies vectors like raccoons and skunks, normally dormant during the cold months, to become more active — which would thereby increase the opportunity for contact between infected and uninfected animals, both within and among species.

Double-check your zombie apocalypse survival kit and read more at wired.com… Read the rest

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