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If a human were to get rabies, what symptoms would they exhibit? Specifically, I'm wondering if they would feel a compulsion to bite, or just toward violence in general. Anybody know?
Posts: 16059 | Registered: Aug 2000
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Theca and CT--Thanks! That was exactly the information I was looking for.
Actually, what made me think of it was that the other day a bat got into my attic (what does one do about that anyway?). I never would have known it was there if the cat hadn't made ridiculous amounts of noise trying unsuccessfully to catch it. I knew that bats are the primary transmitters of rabies to humans, which shifted my mind to the disease, and I've been thinking of various illnesses for a D&D gameworld I'm working on, and thought that it might be fun to have some kind of rabies based thing.
Actually, I've been having all sorts of fun coming up with diseases and disease like experiences. I don't plan to throw too many of them at the characters, of course, but it's nice to have them to round out the world's backstory.
Posts: 16059 | Registered: Aug 2000
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quote:I knew that bats are the primary transmitters of rabies to humans
Are you sure? Around here it is skunks we have to watch primary. They carry it most of the time, then they infect family pets, which can then infect people...
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In my family it's the racoons. That's also the most common transmitter in Northern Virginia, although someone was attacked by a rabid beaver while tubing in the Shenendoah, once. And recently someone was attacked by a rabid coyote, which is much scarier because of the greater damage they can do.
I kept imaginging the tail springing upright and hearing the theme to Jaws as an unsuspecting college freshman's feet dangle from the innertube.
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Skunks do get it a lot Farmgirl, and the only rabid animal I've ever had a run in with was a skunk, but I'm pretty sure that in the US something like 2/3 of the cases of rabies that people contract are from bats. Five for six years ago my wife did some computer support for KDHE's Epidemeology dept, and was told that at the time by one of the staff epidemeologists, and that article that Theca linked to contains information to that effect as well.
Posts: 16059 | Registered: Aug 2000
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Seriously, though, I think rabies is the scariest thing ever. I'm not able to think about it at all rationally. I have total irrational fears of bats and mean dogs. I think this goes back to when I was in 7th grade and my friend gave me this novel to read called Bats where these giant bats all had rabies and transmitted it to this hippy, who transmitted it to his whole hippie group at an orgy and then they all started walking around town biting people... *shudder*
Posts: 8504 | Registered: Aug 1999
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