Girl Survives Rabies

Didn't read or hear about this in the news.

Excerpted here from Current Health 2 magazine:

"MILWAUKEE-

Until recently, no human ever survived untreated rabies, a disease caused by a virus that can infect most mammals. Without treatment, humans who develop rabies inevitably die.

Jeanna Giese, a 15-year-old from Fond du Lac, Wis., beat those odds. She was bitten by a bat on Sept. 12, 2004, during a church service. After the bat bit her, it flew into a window and fell to the floor. Jeanna's family and other churchgoers thought that only healthy bats could fly, so they picked it up and tossed it outside. Jeanna thought the bite was just a scratch, so she never sought medical care.

About six weeks later, Jeanna began to exhibit the symptoms of severe rabies. She was confused and hallucinating, and her speech was slurred. Doctors at Children's Hospital of Wisconsin in nearby Wauwatosa knew that if they didn't act quickly, Jeanna would die.

Typically, people bitten by a wild animal are given a vaccine to prevent rabies. The vaccine causes the body to develop its own protection against the rabies virus. However, it should be given as soon as possible after the bite. Once symptoms appear, it is too late, and the rabies virus eventually attacks and destroys brain tissue, causing death.

Jeanna's doctors were desperate. So they loaded Jeanna with four different virus-fighting drugs and put her into an induced coma. An induced coma is a state of unconsciousness brought about by drugs. Jeanna needed a breathing machine, or ventilator, to breathe for her while she was comatose.

Doctors knew that the rabies virus damages the brain centers that control breathing, swallowing, and other vital functions. They also knew that brain activity drops greatly during a coma. If Jeanna's brain activity could be kept very low, the doctors hoped that the virus-fighting drugs might have a chance to rid her body of the virus.

It was a risky treatment. While in a coma, Jeanna's kidneys could have failed. Her lungs might have become infected. She was at risk every day.

Jeanna's dangerous treatment worked. She survived, the first human to do so after the onset of rabies symptoms."

Fuck me.