To read the tribute to SFC Marcus Muralles, please click here
Friday, November 26, 2004
Some Interesting Medical News
When I was a teenager, my little sister was bit by a neighborhood dog. (Yeah, I was babysitting- I was inside, and she was playing in the yard. I didn't hear her yell. Oh, yeah... there was guilt involved.) The bite barely broke the skin, but it did bleed. When the owner of the dog refused to allow the dog to be quarantined (to watch for rabies), my sister was forced to have a series of rabies vaccine injections. Fortunately for her, when this happened, they had already discovered that all of the injections do not need to be into the abdominal tissue, just the first one. The rest of the injections went into the thigh muscle. (Hubby's cousin had to have the whole series in his gut... then again, he was probably doing something amazingly stupid.) My best friend's mom bought her a big stuffed panda for her to hug during the shots. She was a trooper. (No, I don't think she's ever forgiven the jerk from 2 blocks over for not just quarantining the dang dog for a few weeks.)
We all know what the fear was- if my sister hadn't had the shots, and the dog had been infected with rabies, then she probably would have died (very few people recover once they present symptoms of rabies, and all of those people had received the vaccine.) Rabies is a mean way to die.
Well, now there might be a cure. Without the vaccine. A girl in Wisconsin survived because of a new, experimental treatment. Because she was so far gone by the time she sought treatment, the doctors had nothing to lose. They put her into a chemically induced coma and gave her 4 different anti-viral medications. They're not sure which one worked. But it did work. They will have to try it again, just to make sure. (Not that they're encouraging someone to not seek treatment, but... if someone else is in that situation...)
Yes, the treatment involving multiple injections will still be the standard, but it's nice to know that they may now have a back-up, just in case.
We all know what the fear was- if my sister hadn't had the shots, and the dog had been infected with rabies, then she probably would have died (very few people recover once they present symptoms of rabies, and all of those people had received the vaccine.) Rabies is a mean way to die.
Well, now there might be a cure. Without the vaccine. A girl in Wisconsin survived because of a new, experimental treatment. Because she was so far gone by the time she sought treatment, the doctors had nothing to lose. They put her into a chemically induced coma and gave her 4 different anti-viral medications. They're not sure which one worked. But it did work. They will have to try it again, just to make sure. (Not that they're encouraging someone to not seek treatment, but... if someone else is in that situation...)
Yes, the treatment involving multiple injections will still be the standard, but it's nice to know that they may now have a back-up, just in case.
