Five Americans died of RABIES last year - the highest number in a decade: Three refused shots that could have saved their lives
Five Americans died of rabies in 2021 - the largest number in 10 years - and health officials said three refused a series of shots that could have saved their lives.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) released a report Thursday detailing the deaths, four of which stemmed from contact with bats, and the final from a rabid dog.
The amount of deaths is concerning, as the US previously had seen only three deaths in the last four years from the the debilitating virus, which is most commonly spread through a bite from an infected animal.
In the report, CDC officials said the deaths were tragic - and that the majority of them could have been prevented.
It added that sufferers experienced crippling symptoms including 'altered mental status, paralysis, seizure-like activity, and autonomic instability' before passing on.
Of those to succumb to the virus was an 80-year-old Illinois man, bitten by a bat, who refused a series of potentially life-saving shots due to a longstanding fear of vaccines.
Undated electron microscope image shows rabies virions, dark and bullet-shaped, within an infected tissue sample. Five Americans died of rabies in 2021 - the largest number in a decade
The man, who was not named by the agency, became infected in August, after being attacked and bitten by the animal in his Lake County home, which officials said boasted a bat roost.
After the attack, the man submitted the bat for rabies testing, the report says - and it eventually tested positive.
The man, however, after exhibiting symptoms of the virus himself, declined post-exposure treatment - a series of shots typically taken when symptoms occur that can quell the sickness if administered immediately after a victim has been exposed.
He died a month later, as the first human case of the virus in the state since 1954.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) released a report Thursday detailing the deaths, four of which stemmed from contact with bats
An Idaho man and a Texas boy, meanwhile, were also attacked by infected bats in 2021 and found themselves afflicted with the virus.
Both, however, did not get the shots, believing that no bites or scratches pierced their skin.
In those cases, the afflicted 'either trivialized the exposure (to bats) or they didn't recognize the severity of rabies,' said Ryan Wallace, a CDC rabies expert who co-authored the report.
Two other deaths also occurred earlier in 2021. One was a Minnesota man also bitten by a bat. He got the shots, but an undiagnosed immune system problem hampered their effectiveness, CDC officials said.
The other victim was bitten by a rabid dog while traveling in the Philippines and died in New York after returning to the U.S.
Bats are known to commonly transmit the virus, and are the the second most frequent spreader after dogs.
The amount of deaths, statistically, is surprising: The US had seen only three deaths from the debilitating virus in the past four years.
The rise in cases may be due to a lack of awareness about the risks of rabies - which boasts one of the highest mortality rates of any disease - and what to do after potential exposure, the CDC said.
The agency noted that the number of rabid bats reported nationally in the US has remained the same since 2007.
'We have come a long way in the United States toward 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,' Wallace said in a statement following the release of his report.
Human cases of rabies are rare, with one to three cases reported nationwide each year.
But rabies exposures remain common, and an estimated 60,000 Americans receive post-exposure vaccines each year.
Rabies is caused by a virus that invades the central nervous system and is usually fatal in animals and humans. It's most commonly spread through a bite from an infected animal, with most U.S. infections in recent years traced to bat encounters.
Bats are known to commonly transmit the virus, and are the the second most frequent spreader after dogs
Infection can cause insomnia, anxiety, confusion, paralysis, salivating, hallucinations, difficulty swallowing and fear of water.
Death can occur only a couple of weeks after symptoms begin. But it can be prevented through a series of five shots given within two weeks of exposure.
An estimated 60,000 Americans are treated each year after possible exposure to rabies, the CDC says.
There were no rabies deaths reported in 2019 or 2020. The last time five U.S. rabies deaths were reported in a single year was 2011, CDC officials said.
No comments