Posted on 08/06/2006 8:33:56 AM PDT by nuconvert
Rabies shots urged for 950 Girl Scouts
Associated Press
LEESBURG, Va. - Officials are recommending that nearly 1,000 Girl Scouts who may have been exposed to rabies at a Northern Virginia camp consider getting protective vaccinations.
There is only a small chance that any of the girls were infected by bats that were found in some of the sleeping shelters at Camp Potomac Woods, Loudoun County officials said.
But authorities are erring on the side of caution because around 1 percent of bats carry rabies, a viral disease that is incurable once symptoms appear. Bats can bite children in their sleep without waking them.
"We think the risk is extremely small, but we can't say there is no risk," Loudoun County Health Department Director David Goodfriend said. "Really, at the end of the day, it's the parents' decision of what level of risk they are willing to bear."
Last month, the mother of a girl who had attended the camp contacted the Girl Scout Council of the Nation's Capital. The girl had told her mother the shelter she slept in had bats living under the eaves.
Five bats subsequently caught at the camp's shelters tested negative for rabies. But officials soon learned that a few girls apparently touched a bat captured by a counselor, and some girls had not used protective netting around their beds while they slept at night.
The Loudoun health department sent letters to the parents of around 950 girls who attended the camp through July 22. Most of those contacted have declined to get the vaccine.
At least 14 girls have begun receiving the monthlong series of shots, local officials said. They include the children authorities believe were most likely to have come in contact with a bat.
The vaccine consists of six to nine shots, which can cost up to $2,000. The Girl Scouts organization is covering the cost of the shots.
Camp officials have installed screens on windows, doors and eaves in all 54 of the camp's shelters since the incident.
Smart preventative medicine, IMO. Rabies is nothing to take a chance with.
WOW.
these parents should file lawsuits against the girl scout organization and the facility that let this happen--how frightening. it can take up to 9 mos for rabies to show up (i have also heard as long as 6 years) and when it does you are dead.
i thought the rule is if a child or incapacitated adult are sleeping in the same room in which a bat is found, the assumption is that they were exposed and should be treated because the bites are so tiny. i would imagine that is why the health dept is telling the parents to get shots for the kids. plus i have read you can actually get rabies from bat droppings and when bats are living in the eaves of these cabins....unreal.
the treatments are scary enough and carry their own risks.
i have had two scares with this disease in my own life and i do not envy these parents and kids.....they should be worried.
Place your bets on how many of the 950 will have complications or side effects from the rabies vaccine.
American girls will probably receive psycho-therapy for this, until they admit that they hate their fathers for sending them to Girl Scout camp. Only then will they be cured.
What is going on with this rabies kick? China is killing dogs by the trainload. Trying to burn off adrenaline since the Bird Flu epidemic didn't materialize?
The counselor caught a bat and had a bunch of girls touch it? That was bright.
Actually, I'd be much more worried about the bats catching cooties.
I don't get it... why did you post pictures of the James Carville-Mary Matalin honeymoon?
Being vaccinated because they touched a *captured* bat? Asinine. For being in the same building as bats? Asinine.
Prophylactic vaccination is recommended if one handles a *dying* (sick) bat, or has physical contact with an *unprovoked* bat.
>>>>these parents should file lawsuits against the girl scout organization and the facility that let this happen-
File lawsuits? The girls went CAMPING. Lawsuit for what?
That was a cool movie!
NO... wait: that looks like CLAWS!
But he REALLY wanted them to touch something else!
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