Posted on 11/26/2004 5:40:48 PM PST by neverdem
A Wisconsin teenager is the first human ever to survive rabies without vaccination, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said yesterday, after she received a desperate and novel type of therapy.
Last month, doctors at the Children's Hospital of Wisconsin in Wauwatosa, a suburb of Milwaukee, put the critically ill girl into a drug-induced coma and gave her antiviral drugs, although it is not clear which, if any, of the four medicines contributed to her surprising recovery.
Dr. Charles Rupprecht of the disease control agency called the recovery "historic." But even the doctors who took care of the girl said the result would have to be duplicated elsewhere before the therapy could be considered a cure or a treatment.
"You have to see this therapy repeated successfully in another patient," said Dr. Rodney Willoughby, the associate professor of pediatrics who prescribed the cocktail of medicines for the sick girl, Jeanna Giese, 15. "Until then, it is a miracle."
Jeanna, of Fond du Lac, was bitten by a bat at a church service on Sept. 12. She did not visit a doctor and so was not vaccinated, as is standard medical practice for such an exposure.
"As society has developed, people have forgotten the folklore about don't play with stray animals, or stay away from bats," Dr. Willoughby explained. The bat drew blood, he said, but the bite was quick and small, so Jeanna thought she had just been scratched. Her fellow churchgoers assumed that only healthy bats could fly, so they picked it up after it flew into a window and threw it out the door.
On Oct. 18, she was admitted to the hospital with fluctuating consciousness, slurred speech and other symptoms typical of full-blown rabies.
Rabies is caused by a virus in secretions, like saliva, from an infected animal. The vaccine, which stimulates antibodies to the virus, eliminates the chance of getting the disease if it is administered within days after the initial exposure. Once symptoms develop, generally after a few weeks, the shots are much less effective. They are useless when the rabies is advanced, so doctors opted in Jeanna's case for the experimental treatment.
Only a handful of people have recovered after developing even the earliest symptoms of rabies, and all of those were given the vaccine.
The technique of inducing comas has been used by neurologists in patients with large brain injuries from infection, injury or stroke. But it had not been tried for rabies.
Jeanna's doctors said they would not disclose which medicines they had used until publishing their findings in a medical journal.
Dr. Willoughby said he had tried to induce the coma in part because evidence suggested that rabies did not permanently damage any brain structure. Instead, death comes because the virus seems to cause temporary dysfunction of brain centers that control critical functions like breathing and swallowing.
While rabies kills tens of thousands of people in Asia, Africa and Latin America, it is rare in developed countries. Even if Jeanna's treatment proves successful in a second patient, it is not clear how widely it could be used in poorer parts of the world, since it requires an intensive care unit, with all its high technology. Still, Dr. Willoughby said he expected Jeanna to make a good recovery. She is already responding perfectly to questions by pointing to a message board or nodding her head.
Her father, John Giese, said he was grateful to the doctors and their novel treatment, but added that prayer had made the crucial difference.
"The day after we found out, I called on everyone we knew for prayer," he told The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel this week. "We believe a lot of that snowballed and it really made a difference."
Rabies Ping!
Given the pathobiology of rabies, I think this article is a testament to the power of prayer....not the experimental treatment. It simply can't be done at the stage the article claims the patient had reached - it can only be a miracle.
Thanks for the link.
They keep saying this is the "first." But I'm certain there was another rabies survival story sometime in the last 5-10 years. At that time they said *that* was the first.
You're very welcome. It's an amazing story.
Miracle today, routine tomorrow. A Miracle none-the-less.
I will try to find a better article. This one sites the International Journal of Infectious Disease.
I thought so too, wasn't it a little boy?
Miracle - as in suspension of the natural order by Divine intervention. Example: parting of the Red Sea - never to be routine tomorrow, or any other day.
I think there were a couple of cases where the victim got the vaccine, came down with the symptoms but survived anyway. This is the first case of someone surviving without any vaccine.
;-)
(long time no see)
Perhaps it gave the doctors some inspiriation, but I think most of the credit should go to the doctors and modern medicine.
It's funny, my kids are all freaking out because our son and his family are home for a visit before he goes to Baghdad..........he got a small pox shot before coming here. Everyone is afraid to take a bath after he does, so I do it. I'm old enough to have had the shot, my other kids have not. The hypochondriac is coming out in all of them.
Too bad it's only cited as a case report in a letter to the journal.
FReepmail me if you want on or off my health and science ping list.
"Am I the only one to remember a similar story about 20 years ago? I swear, some kid was reported to have survived rabies back then."
I think they used black salve. Back then it could cure anything.
Edgar Allan Poe died.
:(
It is a miracle, period. Her family and friends will undoubtedly recongize it as such.
Rabid bat ping....
That's silly. It's quite likely that this treatment will prove to be successful in other cases, including those where nobody's praying. It not as if none of the families and friends of previous rabies victims prayed fervently for their recoveries. The difference in this case was the treatment, not the prayer. Did prayer somehow help lead the doctors to make the right guesses, and discover this new treatment? Could be. But once discovered, a new treatment will work without prayer.
I too think there was a case of a young boy that survived without treatment. As I recall, he was in a location where he could not receive the medication in time and they decided not start the injections when he finally did get to a medical facility because giving them that late was thought to run the risk of worstening his condition. Seems to me he was about 8 years old and the doctors then were pretty excited because they thought his blood would carry natural resistance to rabies which could then be reproduced invitro and given to others.
No there was another case. Only it was a teenage boy if I remember correctly. Also, it was more like 30 years ago. I remember the case because I was taking an experimental prophalactic vaccine while conducting parasitology research in bats. I also later went on to work for the Health Dept. and rabies was something I dealt with frequently. The case was mentioned quite often.
Seven year old boy, as I recall.
The PHT may only have stood for purified, heat treated (immunoglobulin, i.e. IgG for passive immunization, IIRC).
Now, I'm not one who bandies about the term "miracle" lightly - nor do I consider the birth of a baby to be one - that's a natural order event. However, once you study this disease, its easy to see that there is no coming back from the stage this victim is alleged to have....barring divine intervention. Unless you are one who believes that science can and will cure everything.
But, I don't doubt your consideration of the "prayer thing" to be silly. You wouldn't be the first.
The doctor was on tv and quoted as this having been a miracle; the father attributed the success to the power of prayer. I know I have been praying for this young lady as well. FYI this is the same medical complex where I had my surgery and where my OB oncologist works out of; it's known as Children's Hospital, Medical College of Wisconsin, Froedtert, and Lutheran Hospital, but it's a college/teaching/learning facility and there are some WONDERFUL people ther. God bless this young girl and please include her in your prayers!
I didn't even know Hillary went to that church!
Amen!
I don't think you know as much about neurology as you think you do. These doctors weren't just throwing darts -- they had a theoretical reason to think that the treatment might work, and it did. Anyway, time will tell, and probably not very much time. No doubt this technique will be tried again on the very next symptomatic rabies case in a developed country. Most likely, this treatment will become standard and fairly reliable.
I'm sure there were people who insisted on attributing the amazing early results from penicillin to divine intervention. But alas, it was the mold.
A report on the struggle to overcome incredible odds, and how it may forge a bond between a Willshire, Ohio man and a teenager he's never even met.
The two share a battle against a deadly disease, the one inspiring the other to fight and survive.
Last month, 15-year-old Jeanna Giese of Fond du Lac, Wisconsin was diagnosed with what would become an advanced case of rabies, almost always fatal.
So when in the past few days, she showed remarkable improvement and was taken off a respirator, her friends believed they'd seen a miracle.
Giese’s classmate Ashley Schneider says, "We feel our prayers have really been answered."
Throughout the ordeal, above her hospital bed, Jeanna's parents kept a photo of a six-year-old boy they never knew.
It was 33-years ago when Matthew Winkler, in the room above, awoke to a real nightmare.
Rabies survivor Matthew Winkler says, "It was a bat, and I screamed. Mom and dad ran upstairs and dad ripped it off my thumb."
Winkler was given a series of shots, but the bat bite infected him just the same.
Winkler says, "Back then, you get rabies, you know, plan the funeral, that's just it."
But it wasn't "it".
For whatever reason, Winkler made it through, and articles written in newspapers and medical publications were discovered by the Giese's, and embraced as a reason to fight for survival.
Winkler has kept a sense of humor about the traumatic event long ago.
He says his friends all affectionately refer to him as 'Batman'.
And he's proud of the fact his name is recorded in the Guinness Book of World Records.
Winkler says, "The only known survivor of rabies was Matthew James Winkler. Well, I'm still around, so I think they screwed up with the 'was'."
A google search provides this tidbit:
There are only three documented cases of patients recovering from rabies infection.
These were apparently treated AFTER symptoms appeared. Other literature claims 100% fatality after symptoms appear.
I doubt that it occured. I did some reading on rabies a few years ago and for those who have developed symptoms there have been only a handful of survivors. Once symptoms develop it has close to a 100% mortality rate. Those that did live were given the vaccine and had permanent disabilities afterward.
I do remember a story quite some time ago. It was in Mexico or somewhere south of there, and there was no vaccine available in time. The doctors realized that it was not the disease itself that killed, but the symptoms piled on top of each other. They decided to treat each of the symptoms as they appeared, and the boy survived.
I remember the big deal being that they treated it symptom by symptom.
See #32....and I completely understand your doubts and where they come from.
...but did the bat die?
The doctor may be calling it a "miracle" in TV interviews, but he's preparing to publish the case study in a medical journal in the expectiation that the treatment will be tried in other patients and likely prove successful in at least some cases. You can be sure his journal article won't say anything about a "miracle".
Baruch HaShem...BLESSED IS THE NAME (of The Lord, The Holy One of Israel)!
YES, I wholeheartedly agree with you Giznort, our GOD Works in Mysterious Ways that we know nothing about.
HIS MERCIES are New every morning.
HIS FAITHFULNESS and KINDNESS To Us ENDURES FOREVER.
HIS LOVE NEVER FAILS.
I will Pray for this very special young Lady whom GOD has placed HIS Healing Touch Upon for Complete Restoration.
Medical Science and Man can Never fully Explain the Things of GOD, however, we are left to Marvel at HIS MIRACLES...
Least we Ever Forget Our Precious MIRACLE BABY...LOGAN!
Prayer Request for A Tiny Baby
Myself | 8-11-03 | Brad's Gramma
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/962162/posts
PS: GovernmentShrinker...Read through the Above Thread and YOU will Never be the Same, I Guarantee it.
Like I said, I understand your doubt and its source.
Thanks for posting Matthew's story. Waaaaaaaaay back in nursing school days we had talked about it...;-D
I have been avoiding this place (at least as far as posting goes) for a few months during the election mess. Hopefully all the obnoxious newbies will tire and move on and we can have the place back to normal again.
To make matters worse, my father decided to retire a few months ago and now I have to handle the entire practice on my own. So things have been crazy recently.
Arrogance doesn't add anything to a conversation. Thinly veiled assertions that you know THE TRUTH and I don't are just obnoxious. Your statement could just as easily come out of the mouth of a jihadist recruiter trying to persuade a young man who's wavering about undertaking a suicide bombing mission.
I doubt that. Besides, I just don't want to play your silly games. Now - leave me alone.
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