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Rabies Kills Holiday Briton

Tia

New Member
Joined
Nov 10, 2004
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482
A WOMAN who was bitten by a dog on her holiday has died from rabies, health officials confirmed yesterday.

The victim, from Bury, Greater Manchester, caught the virus when she was bitten by the stray animal in Goa, India.

The 39-year-old fell ill when she returned to the UK and died in hospital on Saturday.

A spokesman for the Health Protection Agency assured members of the public that they were not at risk and said hospital staff had been offered vaccines as a precaution.

The woman, who was bitten on April 9, was admitted to the Fairfield General Hospital in Bury after she returned from Goa and began to feel unwell.

Once hospital staff had diagnosed her condition as rabies, she was transferred to the Walton Centre in Liverpool, a centre for neurology and neurosurgery.

But despite the specialist treatment, she died from the disease.

A Health Protection Agency spokesman confirmed yesterday that there had been a recent death from rabies, which was contracted abroad.

The spokesman said all hospital staff in contact with the bite victim had been told of the death and offered inoculations as a precaution.

He said no-one else had caught the disease and assured members of the public that they were not at risk.

"There is no record of rabies ever being passed from a patient to a healthcare worker," he said.

"But to be absolutely safe, staff in both hospitals who had close personal contact with the patient have been offered the rabies vaccine.

"This really is a precautionary measure and we are able to reassure these staff that if any risk to them existed at all, it would have been very low."

Rabies, or "hydrophobia", is a viral infection which is passed to humans in saliva when they are bitten by an infected animal.

Infected dogs are the most common cause of humans catching the disease, but it can also be transmitted through bites from infected monkeys and bats.

A vaccine that can prevent the spread of rabies is available, but it needs to be administered quickly following a bite.

By the time the symptoms actually appear they can often no longer be treated and nearly always lead to death.

In the initial phase of rabies, a patient may have a fever, and experience vomiting and loss of appetite, headache and pain at the site of the original bite.

Later, paralysis may occur and spasms in the throat develop, making swallowing difficult. The person affected becomes terrified of water, anxious and hyperactive.

link... http://news.scotsman.com/index.cfm?id=1669952005
 
Werbung:
Poor thing, rabies was probably the last thing on her mind when going o/s.

You tend to forget when you live in a 'safe' country all the diseases roaming around other places.
 
Werbung:
Yikes, yer Tia, you just think about going away and enjoying your break. Very sad
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