rabies Archives - Caveman Circus

In late September 2000, a nine-year-old boy with no significant past medical history complained of pain over the upper third of his left arm, associated with a fever of 38.2°C. His pain was associated with numbness and progressed over the subsequent three days, radiating to the left wrist, left shoulder and lateral aspect of his neck. The pain was worse on palpation, with active movement and at night, causing insomnia. Four days after the onset of symptoms, the patient developed uncontrolled tremors of his left arm, increasing with voluntary movements and stress. The next day, the child presented for medical assessment and was hospitalized.

rabies in humans

Let me paint you a picture.

You go camping, and at mid-day you decide to take a nap in a nice little hammock. While sleeping, a tiny brown bat, in the “rage” stages of infection is fidgeting in broad daylight, uncomfortable, and thirsty (due to the hydrophobia) and you snort, startling him. He goes into attack mode.

Except you’re asleep, and he’s a little brown bat, so weighs around 6 grams. You don’t even feel him land on your bare knee, and he starts to bite. His teeth are tiny. Hardly enough to even break the skin, but he does manage to give you the equivalent of a tiny scrape that goes completely unnoticed.

The Progression of Rabies in a 9-Year-Old Child

The Horrifying Reality Of Contracting Rabies