Did you know that today is World Rabies Day? Well, now you do. Our pal Asylum blog has a neat post about rabies trivia, including these gems:
People who get rabies don't go vampire.
Somewhat surprisingly, we could find no evidence that the spastic delirium brought on by this horrible plague has caused a person to start biting others with his suddenly deadly teeth/saliva combination. (This may be because rabid patients are often tied down.) However, in the low-budget horror flick "I Drink Your Blood" a band of hippies are tricked into eating rabies-infected meat pies. They proceed to turn the table on the townsfolk by wreaking delirious havoc that would seem by the film's title to include vampirism.The only person who has ever really survived rabies may simply be immortal.
There is only one fully-documented case of a person surviving rabies without severe brain damage. In 2005, a teenage girl from Wisconsin was induced into a coma right after the onset of symptoms in hopes that partially shutting off her brain (and feeding her medication) would give her immune system time to produce antibodies to fight the virus. After six days under, and many more in the hospital, Jeanna Giese emerged with only slight brain damage, and now lives a normal life. Subsequent attempts to replicate this procedure have failed.
Link - Thanks Alex!
are they talking people who happen to get rabies are treated with this method, or are they purposefully inducing rabies in animals and try to cure it?
i understand that it's sometimes a necessary evil, but if it's the last one...that sucks.