I think it used to be a few more and you hear all kinds of horror stories about rabies vaccines. I've heard people say, "Well, you have to get it injected into your stomach," which sounds awful. That's absolutely not the case. Troy Madsen: But maybe years ago because that sounds miserable. But yeah the rabies vaccine is not that bad but we give it as a precaution because if you get rabies you can't cure it. It's a horrible thing and it'll kill you. Troy Madsen: So a vampire, you know, vampires are bats so I think the best analogy there is a bat bite.
Troy Madsen: We don't. I very rarely will see one and you know kind of the weird situation is we'll actually see cases where a person wakes up in their bedroom and there's a bat in the room. And this is really interesting because the US Centers for Disease Control has said, "If you wake up and there's a bat in your room you need to assume you've been bitten.
Troy Madsen: And it's in their guidelines that you need to have the rabies vaccine. Again, it's getting back to that whole rabies thing and that's our big concern with bat bites. Troy Madsen: Yeah, yeah. Komodo dragons. Obviously we don't see a lot of Komodo dragon bites. Troy Madsen: Because it's just the worst bite you can get. It's amazing how much bacteria Komodo dragons have in their mouths. These locations where they actually have wild Komodo dragons there are reports- I mean that's how they kill animals with just the amount of bacteria in their mouth.
I mean there's the force of their bite but they're mouths aren't really that big, but they bite these animals and these animals have severe sepsis, like severe bacterial infections and will often die within hours. So if we were to ever get someone say from the zoo, if you had like a zoo handler that came in after a bite, man, I would give him every antibiotic I could. I'd have him IV antibiotics, admitted to the hospital, because these things are awful. So Halloween's coming up. Be safe.
Watch out for those werewolves, vampires and zombies. And if you do happen to get bitten, I'll be waiting for you in the ER. Announcer: We're your daily dose of science.
This is The Scope. University of Utah Health Sciences Radio. The Desmodus rotundus species , known as "vampire bat", is widely distributed in most of the Brazilian territory and is found in larger numbers than the other hematophagous bat species Figure 1.
Desmodus rotundus — hematophagous bat. Courtesy of PhD Leda Kimura. Bats of the Desmodus rotundus species have large and sharp incisive teeth, which are used to make precise superficial cuts on their prey, from which they lick the blood. We present the case of a patient who, in spite of taking the prescribed serum vaccination for human rabies due to contact with bats, did not present seroconversion and continued exposing himself to chiroptera biting, virtually daily, for a period of two months.
He reported his condition had started approximately two months before; for around three consecutive days, upon waking up, he noticed the presence of a great amount of blood on the place where he was sleeping, like the mattress and couch. Initially, he associated his symptoms to alcohol and drug abuse; however, on the fourth day, he observed several bats on his body. Although he followed the appropriate prophylaxis, he reported that everyday he slept in his house, he was bit again.
He returned to UBS with the same complaint other times, however it was overlooked due to the previous associated chemical dependency.
At the physical exam, he presented weakened physical condition and precarious personal hygiene; cardiopulmonary and neurological evaluations were both normal. Subungual ecchymoses on both halluces. Detail of extremities showing multiple red dots on hallux digital pulp - right B and left C, compatible with several perforations caused by bats bites. Skin biopsy of the cervical region, at the hair implantation line, covering an area with around 20 strands, and the polymerase chain reaction PCR for the rabies virus were performed, with negative results.
Human antirabies antibodies titration did not present seroconversion. In light of this, a medical visit was paid to the patient's house, located in the periurban area; the absence of doors, windows, part of the ceiling and basic sanitation were noticed.
On the outside there was a mattress with several blood stains. In the period from to , cases of human rabies were recorded, of which, from onwards, the main vector was the bat. The in vivo laboratory confirmation of human rabies cases can be done by the direct immunofluorescence method DIF or by polymerase chain reaction PCR , on cutaneous nerves of hair follicles, obtained by skin biopsy of the cervical area.
The typical morphology of a vampire bat bite is a "corkscrew" pattern; with opening and closing movements of the mouth, the bats bite and remove a fragment of skin: epidermis and part of the dermis. Besides being superficial, the feeding bite is apparently painless, for the vampire bat has an anesthetic substance, in addition to a factor Xa inhibitor denominated draculin and a plasminogen: DSPA Desmodus Salivary Plasminogen Activator.
The anemia arising from injury and chemical dependence is a factor that favors an immunosuppression clinical picture and, as a result, the non seroconversion to rabies. It is the authors' opinion that the patient probably did not have his complaint seriously considered at UBS because it was interpreted as a psychotic picture with somatization and delirium. Accidents with bats, like the above reported case, represent a grave risk to public health, and require attention, prevention and control measures by the competent authorities.
They only live in the Americas and feed solely on blood, puncturing the skin of their prey with sharp incisors. We believe this is due to deforestation and the destruction of caves, which forces the bats to migrate to the cities.
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