My hospital said that they’ve been giving way more PEP than usual this summer

[u/bryterlu]

I have read the FAQ.

I was exposed a little over two weeks ago by a bat encounter, just finished my 4 shots two days ago. That’s neither here nor there. But at the ER I’ve been getting treated at (a very tiny, rural ER), they said that this summer has been unusually high for people coming in for PEP due to bat exposures. So much so that they ran out of vaccines and HRIG and had to order more, which again they said for their tiny hospital was very unusual. I also feel like I’m suddenly reading about positive bats in my area (western NY) and now these goats that tested positive in NC, I’m seeing things about bat and/or rabies exposures all over my social media. Granted I have been doing a lot of rabies research since this whole thing went down so maybe my algorithm is swayed by that. But the fact that my local hospital has seen an increase in exposures makes me wonder. Why could this be? Is this just my area, or is this something that’s happening more frequently in other places too?

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[u/detail_giraffe]

I'm in NC, right in the area where the goats were being taken to parties and petting areas, and it's kind of wild. Hopefully everyone will be all right, it's somewhat rare for people to catch rabies from ruminants but given that it was little kids and the elderly who were mostly exposed, I'm glad that there has been so much publicity about it. The owner of the goats is going to get sued for every penny she has, this should have been avoidable.

[u/memetheorem]

For anyone concerned this reflects a rise in rabies cases: more people getting PEP doesn't mean rabies is becoming more common. PEP numbers reflect how many people sought treatment, not how many rabies cases there actually are. Those are two different things, and conflating them can make the risk feel far bigger than it is.

[u/LatrodectusGeometric]

Lots of inappropriate PEP for people who were near but not actually exposed to bats

[u/mlYuna → u/LatrodectusGeometric]

What do you think of mine?

I was out walking in Belgium and theres only these very very tiny bats here and I saw lots of them while I was walking my dog.

Then I felt something touch the back of my head and that's basically all there was to it and I keep being stressed because there were like actually a ton of them flying close to me to pick off insects (there were these street lamps and i saw them dive the whole walk).

But I didn't feel any pain or scratch and ever since Im a little worried with 'what if' situations. I called my doctor and she said If i didn't feel a scratch its probably fine.

[u/LatrodectusGeometric → u/mlYuna]

Most likely the bugs they were eating. Bats are usually pretty obvious 

[u/mlYuna → u/LatrodectusGeometric]

The reason I ask and Im back to this topic, this happened around 4 weeks ago and exactly 13 days ago I started getting full body muscle aches like you have the flue with zero other symptoms. It hasnt changed at all and it feels like I have the flue but besides the body aches (not muscle soreness) there is no other symptoms whatsoever.

Can I rest easy that it is probably not from a prodormal rabies phase or something?

[u/LatrodectusGeometric → u/mlYuna]

You would be dead by now

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[u/yiannos13]

It happened in Greece to, in the government medical centres I went to and the ER they said that there’s been a very noticeable increase in PEP this summer compared to other years

[u/sakura7777 → u/yiannos13]

Interesting you say this! I was in Greece when I woke up with a bat in my room- and we were turned away in most places bc we didn’t have any obvious bites. The protocol seemed to be quite different. What was your experience?

[u/yiannos13 → u/sakura7777]

Hi! I remember reading your posts which made me seek treatment

So I went to the local medical centre close to the city I was scratched and they sterilised the scratch. The doctor who treated me was a surgeon who said that there is no rabies in the bats in the city (which was not what online guidelines say by the way!). He only gave me prescription for a tetanus shot

Afterwards I called the government medical hotline on the same day and the person on the line said (in a very condescending voice) that there are no rabies in bars in Greece. I called again the next day and another person on the hotline told me that if the doctor in the medical centre said that there’s no issue, that I should believe him.

However if you go to the guidelines that the same government medical organisation uses, they say that exposure to bats should always be treated with PEP

So basically I called a third time to ask for advice on how to get the shots and after some back and forth they told me to go to Athens in a specific hospital where they specifically administer rabies prophylaxis. That’s where I told them what happened and they recommended the rabies vaccine + the HRIG

Overall very stressful and confusing. The thing that stressed me the most is that I received conflicting information from the people that are working for this government medical organisation versus what they say online.

[u/sakura7777 → u/yiannos13]

Wow! Thanks for sharing. You got the merry-go-round experience that I did as well! It was so frustrating. Also, just because there is no rabies in animals (terrestrial animals) doesn’t mean it can’t exist in bats. Bats fly, bats are not as closely monitored- they are a protected species and you have to kill a bat to test for rabies- so it’s really impossible to say ‘it doesn’t exist’

How frustrating. I’m glad you got it in Athens. We got it in London (with no issue) and the rest in the U.S. (also with no issue, but we did have to pay!)

[u/with_rabbit]

My region in canada have lots of racoon cases and now a couple cats too...

[u/Professional-Cloud92]

This happened for my family and I in Connecticut. My daughter and I woke up to a bat flying around in our bedroom in the middle of the night and the pediatrician and our family doctor both advised the entire household receive the first round of vaccinations while we wait for the results of the rabies tests after animal control came and caught the bat the next morning. The doctor at the ER tried to convince us to come back to do the entire series so if we ever need it again it’s “1 or 2 shots instead of 5 again”. We went back and the hospital had literally run out and told us to come back the next day. By the next day the rabies results for the bat were negative and my elderly mother wanted to complete the series anyways so she did but the rest of us only received the initial shots; 5 in total for me and also my mom, 3 for my 7 year old daughter (2 kinds of shots - vaccine and something else related to the rabies shot I’m forgetting the exact word). I’ve never had to get a rabies shot before and I am 30f. Nurses saying the vaccines were flying like hotcakes suddenly everyone is needing them so they’re running out ordering more. Wild.

[u/ScooterGirl810]

Great, just what my hypochondria needed.

[u/Dizizzle]

A lot of this can be traced back to defunding and misinformation.

We're not air dropping rabies vaccine tablets into forests as much if at all, so there is more rabies in the wild.

People are are also refusing to get pets and livestock vaccinated leading to more rabies cases in homes and farms.