Rabies in Kerala

th13rtin

[quote=Nick-H;471713]Mod bit:

th13rtin, please do not use SMS/Text abbreviations in your posts; it is against our policy, and if you do so, moderators may delete your posts.

did not find the above among the 'rules', but fair enough.and... i concur with the personal bit.am signing out

brownboy66

ahhh...I understand - and agree with you (some people, who have not been inoculated, do tend to feel that the vaccine is enough).

Don't know that I would necessarily follow your approach (it is a personal choice thing after all). I tend to think that while you have the chance and events are in your control (i.e prior to travelling) getting the vaccine is worth considering. You'll need further shots if bitten - but you wont need the HRIG, and it will buy you some time.

If you don't get the vaccine and get bitten - its out of your hands so to speak in that your now dependent on a) being near a medical facility, b) that it has in stock both the vaccine and HRIG (or some sort of immuglobulin), and c) that the medical staff are fully conversant with the treatment regime.

But as Nick has said - the (unqualified) consensus here is that the risk is low for the average tourist on the major tourist routes, but worthwhile if in remote areas. As for me - I'm a long term resident - a chicken - and I like to have some control of my circumstances - so oh yeah, I've had the vaccine!

Nick-H

I too am a long-term resident --- and I haven't. I do know I could be in a good private hospital in less than an hour, but I guess BB could too.

So, its different conclusions for different people. As I mentioned, though, possibly in this very thread, now I have a house-full of cats, I may revise my options. The cats will definitely be vaccinated.

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brownboy66

cluck cluck....

camelgirl

I didn't get the Pre-exposure vaccine for my first 4 trips to India. But, I did get it in 1999 which covers me for all my subsequent trips. NOTE: the vaccine is a Pre-exposure. If you get bitten by a rabid animal, you still need 3 more POST-exposure shots. The whole point of the PRE-exposure is to give you a bit more time to get to a proper clinic and then you need 3 shots over a period of time rather than 5.

They are very expensive. But I'm still glad I got it for peace of mind. As everyone has already noted, it's 100 percent fatal (except for that one young girl in the USA who didn't even know she was bitten by a tiny rabid bat one night and no one still really knows how she survived).

Anyone who wants it should get it and should not be discouraged against it. Anyone who doesn't want it shouldn't get it. The odds are slim that you'll be exposed to rabies but be very careful about approaching dogs--the main vector. The odds are higher you could be in a traffic accident No vaccine for that

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Nick-H

How about the risk of being exposed to babies --- any inoculation for that?

camelgirl

PeakXV

No that's contraception - something entirely different and should be administered 9 months before hand - to eliminate any risk of exposure.

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We shall not cease from exploration and at the end of all our exploring will be to arrive where we started ...and know the place for the first time.
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Don't go to India ~ Pre-trip Warnings & Misconceptions?

camelgirl

Nick-H

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kristinm

I'm going to have nightmares about being bitten by a tiny rabid bat Camelgirl... It's like something out of a horror movie - a microbat with rabies! The trees outside our house are full of great big bats at the moment, stinky noisy things they are too!!! On the other hand I could be bitten by a tiny rabid baby... !

camelgirl

Sorry Kristnm--I happen to really like bats! So good for the environment eating all those bugs. Try not to think about it....very rare indeed....and besides, any warm blooded mammal can get or give rabies--but not toothless babies

Uh Oh, where is this taking us.....

Nick-H

I like bats too. I'd be happy if a lot more of them came here --- to eat the mossies.

kristinm

I like them as a concept...and they are kind of cute with their little bat faces.. but right at the moment, after 2 weeks of almost sleepless nights, I could cheerfully never see one again.

We have these huge flying foxes or fruit bats, they are giant rat sized with a wing span of about 2 feet... There is a colony in the botanical gardens near the city, It's one of the great sights of Sydney every sunset to see the sky fill with bats over the city..

But they have descended on us - there must be some kind of fruit or nectar at the moment. They really stink and all night they shriek and flap, I mean really loudly - and to make it worse my Jack Russell obsessively runs around the back yard barking at the trees - or if she's inside runs up and down under the window... It's like living in some kind of bat nightmare!

I actually don't think our ones eat bugs - they are fruit bats, so I guess they eat fruit and nectar....

Nick-H

A Batmare! That really doesn't sound so good