Heard an interesting podcast recently...
There was this 15 year old girl in Wisconsin in 2004 who became febrile and started losing her coordination gradually. Exhaustive medical investigative procedure came to zilch. And her condition was deteriorating. She was almost in and out of coma.
While engaged in small talk during the visit by her old paediatrician, the mother mentioned about their visit to the church the previous month and how the animal lover part of the girl helped a stranded bat in the church. The bat was injured was flying helplessly banging into the glass and missing the exit. Her Good Samaritan deed earned her a bite on the hand which the family nursed it as per a usual wound. That struck an alarm... Bats, bites, rabies...Unfortunately, rabies had 100% mortality rate. The doctors could not do much but put her in a dark room, minimise stimulation, supportive care and slowly ease her path to meet her Maker.
Left with Hobson's choice, the family kept on doing the only thing that kept them sane after seeing their springy teenager slowly withering away- prayers and more prayers.
Then an infectious specialist offered an experimental form of treatment. The rationale of treatment was that rabies does not actually cause structural damage to the brain. It paralyses the vital functions of the body before our own antibodies are able combat the offending intruder. So, if there was some kind of way to maintain vital functions and organs, the body can produce enough antibodies to fight the disease. They started antiviral treatment and ventilated here for 2 weeks.
After many tense, hopeful and false alarm moments, she slowly recovered. And she continued recovering till she finally passed college with flying colours, albeit not 100% yet. And she is now working with bats and other animals aiming to be a veterinarian!
Unfortunately, the success of the same form of treatment had not been replicated elsewhere, although some success was seen but not 100%! So, what happened? Were the parents' prayers answered? After all they were all regular church goers but then why being bitten by a bat in the church in the first place? Is this some kind of divine mirth or divine comedy or errors of divine proportions? Errors corrected by sending of a healer with knowledge to rectify? A device to garner more support from congregation by flaunting of powers?
Is it because she may been partially immunised by a lesser strain of rabies? Or the current strain is less virulent? Literature had suggested people living in close proximity with animals reputed to carry the virus had survived in anecdotal unconfirmed reports.
We can all believe in what we want to believe... At the end of the day, she and her family kept their faith and it seem stronger now.
Another discussion point in the podcast is the use of this modality of treatment to be made available to all victims who had missed the window of opportunity to receive the immunisation or symptoms have emerged. Unfortunately, there is the cost factor which needs to be considered. Guess you have to be born in a rich family or country to be bitten by a rabid animal!
There was this 15 year old girl in Wisconsin in 2004 who became febrile and started losing her coordination gradually. Exhaustive medical investigative procedure came to zilch. And her condition was deteriorating. She was almost in and out of coma.
While engaged in small talk during the visit by her old paediatrician, the mother mentioned about their visit to the church the previous month and how the animal lover part of the girl helped a stranded bat in the church. The bat was injured was flying helplessly banging into the glass and missing the exit. Her Good Samaritan deed earned her a bite on the hand which the family nursed it as per a usual wound. That struck an alarm... Bats, bites, rabies...Unfortunately, rabies had 100% mortality rate. The doctors could not do much but put her in a dark room, minimise stimulation, supportive care and slowly ease her path to meet her Maker.
Left with Hobson's choice, the family kept on doing the only thing that kept them sane after seeing their springy teenager slowly withering away- prayers and more prayers.
Then an infectious specialist offered an experimental form of treatment. The rationale of treatment was that rabies does not actually cause structural damage to the brain. It paralyses the vital functions of the body before our own antibodies are able combat the offending intruder. So, if there was some kind of way to maintain vital functions and organs, the body can produce enough antibodies to fight the disease. They started antiviral treatment and ventilated here for 2 weeks.
After many tense, hopeful and false alarm moments, she slowly recovered. And she continued recovering till she finally passed college with flying colours, albeit not 100% yet. And she is now working with bats and other animals aiming to be a veterinarian!
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| Jeanna Giese |
Is it because she may been partially immunised by a lesser strain of rabies? Or the current strain is less virulent? Literature had suggested people living in close proximity with animals reputed to carry the virus had survived in anecdotal unconfirmed reports.
We can all believe in what we want to believe... At the end of the day, she and her family kept their faith and it seem stronger now.
Another discussion point in the podcast is the use of this modality of treatment to be made available to all victims who had missed the window of opportunity to receive the immunisation or symptoms have emerged. Unfortunately, there is the cost factor which needs to be considered. Guess you have to be born in a rich family or country to be bitten by a rabid animal!
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