Re: RC: Re: Rabies Kills Horse In N.C.

[CMKSAGEHIL@aol.com]

In a message dated 1/7/00 6:33:49 PM Pacific Standard Time, celiak@pcrs.net 
writes:

<< I thought you could only contract rabies through a bite.
 
 How were they exposed?? >>

After I sent off my reply, I realized you must have been asking how the 
PEOPLE were exposed, rather than the horse.  One of the hallmarks of rabies 
is paralysis of the swallowing mechanism in the throat, so in horses and 
cattle, rabies is often confused with choke.  The virus is present in saliva, 
and exposure to humans who are attending the affected animal can occur simply 
by getting the saliva on your hands and having a nick or cut through which 
the virus can enter your bloodstream.  With a horse suspected of choke or a 
foreign body in the mouth, the owners/handlers may well have been exposed 
reaching into the mouth checking for foreign bodies, and the vet may well 
have tried to pass a stomach tube.  Veterinary personnel may have been 
exposed cleaning up equipment, etc., before the actual problem was accurately 
diagnosed.  I do know that 12 or 14 people went through treatment due to 
possible exposure with her case.

Rabies in cattle is pretty common in the feedlots in southern California, and 
the hallmarks are rage, salivation, and a weird bellering--I've not heard it, 
but those who have say that you will never confuse it with any other sound 
from a cow.  I spent an externship in a southern Cal feedlot practice when I 
was a student, and that was one of the real big concerns there.

Heidi


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