Thursday, May 14, 2009

New Rabies

I seem to be visible again.

Dr Gail Goodman and Teddy Moritz sent this biologically fascinating but scary link to a National Geographic story about a mutated version of rabies in the Flagstaff, Arizona area. It apparently originated in bats, which is not unusual, and has manifested in skunks and foxes. What is frightening is that it appears to be transmitted in those two species WITHOUT biting. Could be a serious problem, obviously.

I believe some "Lyssa" virus rabies relatives spread like this in Australasian bats-- anyone know?

And I love "often fatal in humans"-- yeah, at least two humans in history have survived!

Make sure your pet's rabies shots are up to date.

3 comments:

Neutrino Cannon said...

Come on now, it's not that bad.

According to wikipedia, there have actually been six people who have survived it!

Also, your link appears to be broken.

Anonymous said...

Yup, currently up on ALL my rabies shots, including my own! One of the few French Benefits of being a Zookeeper in some zoos, is the free rabies shot required, and the monitoring of titers thereafter. Thank goodness it is provided free, as HUMAN rabies shots are expensive as heck!...L.B.

Faine said...

Holy crap, that's exponentially creepier then swine flu in my book. Air transmitted rabies is bad bad juju. Although I think it would make a bitching movie....