Bats and being bitten...

[Toirtis]

I stand corrected! I looked it up - the 10-year-old boy died in 2005. Serum and spinal fluid collected before his death were sent to the CDC for testing and rabies was confirmed as the cause of death. Tragic. His parents will never get over his death.

There was a young chap in his twenties that died of it on the west coast of Canada a couple of years ago. It was tragic, because he sought medical care only after symptoms presented...the doctors had to tell him that it was pretty much certain that he was going to die and it would be pretty awful.

 

[Rogue Princess]

Oh yes, watch out for Rabies! 2 or 3 people get infected a year!!! It's a pandemic!!!

 

[Toirtis]

Oh yes, watch out for Rabies! 2 or 3 people get infected a year!!! It's a pandemic!!!

No, but it is important to know about, since although it is uncommon, like hantavirus, exposure is certainly possible without realising it, and it is exceptionally dangerous.

 

[Judge]

When was this, as the CDC claims that the last US rabies death was a 55 year old man in Utah, 4th November 2018.

Actually the last deaths from bats with rabies reported by the CDC were between September 28, and November 3, 2021. Three persons in three states- Idaho, Texas and Illinois. No reason to believe this will be the last of such incidents in the US. Glad I never touched any that I encountered as a child.

“We have come a long way in the United States towards reducing the number of people who become infected each year with rabies, but this recent spate of cases is a sobering reminder that contact with bats poses a real health risk, said Ryan Wallace, DVM, MPH, a veterinarian and rabies expert in CDC’s Division of High-Consequence Pathogens and Pathology."

https://www.cdc.gov/media/releases/2022/p0106-human-rabies.html