Precious Reynolds, an 8-year-old resident of Willow Creek in rural Humboldt County, has become the third person in the United States known to have recovered from rabies infection without receiving the rabies vaccine, UC Davis Children's Hospital says.
Reynolds was apparently scratched or bitten by a feral cat near her elementary school in April, UC Davis spokeswoman Phyllis Brown said today. The cat was never found.
The girl developed a stomach ache and then had trouble swallowing and eventually lost muscle control and the ability to stand or walk. She was flown to Sacramento's UC Davis Children's Hospital and admitted to the pediatric intensive care unit.
The hospital team was led by Jean Wiedeman, associate professor of pediatric infectious diseases. Wiedeman coordinated Precious' care with state, local and federal officials at the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the California Department of Public Health's Encephalitis and Special Investigations Section, and county health departments in Humboldt and Sacramento.
Rabies is a highly infectious viral disease of mammals that usually is transmitted through the bite or scratch of a rabid animal. Because pets and farm animals typically are inoculated against the disease, exposure commonly comes from a bat, skunk, fox or other wild animal.
Rabies infection in humans is exceptionally rare in the United States, Wiedeman said, with only 2-9 cases reported each year.
Many more people - some 30,000 annually - are exposed and receive post- exposure prophylaxis (PEP) to prevent disease.
Reynolds did not receive post-exposure prophylaxis, a series of antiviral inoculations administered following infection, because the exact date and nature of her exposure was not known. Rabies is virtually always fatal without PEP.
The virus affects the central nervous system, ultimately causing encephalitis, or acute inflammation of the brain, and eventually, death.
Very early symptoms of rabies in people include fever, headache and general weakness or discomfort. As the disease progresses, however, more specific symptoms appear.
Read more about this story Monday in The Sacramento Bee and at www.sacbee.com.
About Comments
Reader comments on Sacbee.com are the opinions of the writer, not The Sacramento Bee. If you see an objectionable comment, click the "Report Abuse" link below it. We will delete comments containing inappropriate links, obscenities, hate speech, and personal attacks. Flagrant or repeat violators will be banned. See more about comments here.