Not ture. I young gal in WI caught rabies and was showing symptoms before they figured it out. She got the cure and managed to get through it with some aftereffects. This was like 20 years go. I seen a news paper article about it a while ago.
True-ish. There are
reports of a few other survivors (15) globally, but the stress is on the word survive. Most come through with significant impairment.
She was the one of the few people, ever, to survive rabies. She was bitten on her index finger, which caused a very slow development of the disease as rabies
travels along neurons. The closer that you are bitten to your head, the faster the disease progresses.
Personally, I would file
@MossRoad's original comments of nobody surviving rabies as close enough to true. I know of someone else who was bitten on the index finger, like the Wisconsin woman, and didn't survive. (She was young, otherwise healthy and bitten by a young, unvaccinated, puppy that she had "adopted" off the street.)
Small mammals carry lots of human diseases; rabies, hantavirus, leptospirosis, plague (via fleas), tularemia, not to mention the of the tick borne diseases (e.g. Lyme, babesiosis and anaplasmosis) for which they are alternate hosts.
When we first moved on to the ranch, our vet suggested vaccinating the horses for rabies. We asked why. He pointed out that the first thing a horse owner does with a salivating, slobbering horse is looking into its mouth, getting saliva all over themselves. We vaccinated promptly.
Getting the preventative rabies shot could make sense if you live in an area where you are likely to be exposed. It can be had for less than $400 if uninsured, and often much less if you have insurance. (Especially if you have met your deductible...sorry
@MossRoad!)
All the best,
Peter
