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| Afghanistan |
| US Soldier Dies of Rabies From Bite In Afghanistan |
| 2012-05-03 |
| A 24-year-old American soldier died of rabies after being bitten by a dog last year in Afghanistan, US health officials said Thursday following an investigation into the rare case. The otherwise healthy soldier started experiencing symptoms of shoulder and neck pain and tingling sensations in his hands soon after arriving at Fort Drum, N.Y., in mid-August 2011. His condition escalated to include nausea, vomiting, anxiety and trouble swallowing. By the time he was admitted to an emergency room, he was dehydrated and hydrophobic, meaning he developed an intense fear of drinking liquids because of the painful muscle spasms he experienced while swallowing. "He was lucid and described having received a dog bite on the right hand during January 2011 while deployed to Afghanistan," said the report by the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). The soldier tested positive for a strain of rabies associated with dogs in Afghanistan and doctors attempted an experimental treatment to save him from certain death. |
| Posted by:Glereger Ebbolutch8005 |
| #7 Doesn't the Zombie Apocalypse start like this? |
| Posted by: SteveS 2012-05-03 22:20 |
| #6 Unless, of course, the soldier did not tell anyone that the wound came from a dog bite. Then like Heinlein said, Stupidity is its own death sentence. |
| Posted by: Shieldwolf 2012-05-03 21:14 |
| #5 The soldier's immediate commander, the medic that treated him, and the medical officer that signed off on that treatment should all be dismissed from the Army. The chain of command is set up so that stupid crap like this is not supposed to happen. Someone should have caught this and ordered a series of rabies inoculations for the soldier. |
| Posted by: Shieldwolf 2012-05-03 21:12 |
| #4 the bite in January showed no untoward symptoms until mid-August, it was a reasonable assumption, however sadly wrong it turned out. Nope. NOT a reasonable assumption. Rabies is best handled pre-emptively, by vaccination unless and until the offending critter is ruled out by autopsy. It is more than possible the soldier did not tell his caregiver that his wound was a dog bite. By the way, in the US the prime source of rabies is bats. Nearly all dog rabies deaths in the US for many years now were contracted abroad & symptoms only developed when the victim sought care for rabies symptoms in the US. Have nothing to do with bats, please spread the word. |
| Posted by: Anguper Hupomosing9418 2012-05-03 20:35 |
| #3 I'm sure he did get medical treatment -- cleaned and bandaged, most likely. But clearly nobody thought in terms of catching the dog to test for rabies...and given that the bite in January showed no untoward symptoms until mid-August, it was a reasonable assumption, however sadly wrong it turned out. |
| Posted by: trailing wife 2012-05-03 19:28 |
| #2 I do not mean to make light of a tragedy. But I read this because I was curious to know if he was bit by a man or a dog. |
| Posted by: RandomJD 2012-05-03 18:55 |
| #1 He claimed he sought & got medical attention shortly after he was bitten, but the Army found no evidence of that. |
| Posted by: Anguper Hupomosing9418 2012-05-03 18:48 |