HELP: Amazon bit by squirrel

[entrancedbymyGCC]

What I really meant is that in the US, in developed areas, rabies is quite rare. When I lived in Spain, they didn't even bother to vaccinate pets and when I was bitten by a semi-feral cat I rescued, they didn't bother to test him or run an immunization series, it was considered that unlikely. But I agree there are places it is much more common, so I should have been explicit. Yes, this is largely due to vaccination programs, I wasn't arguing against them. But when I was a very young child, rabies was a MUCH bigger deal than it is now in terms of the average person in the US having a significant probability of being exposed.

My degrees are in Astronomy and Physics, not biology, but while birds are not normally carriers and don't ever in nature seem to get the symptoms we label "rabid", from what I read, if my pet parrot was bitten by a rabid animal and survived, I'd handle with care because it seems the virus can hang around at least for a little while. But the whole scenario is wildly unlikely.

[zazanomore]

What I really meant is that in the US, in developed areas, rabies is quite rare. When I lived in Spain, they didn't even bother to vaccinate pets and when I was bitten by a semi-feral cat I rescued, they didn't bother to test him or run an immunization series, it was considered that unlikely.

I wouldn't say rabies is rare in developed places. We see the occasional fox with rabies, and when my friend was bitten by a feral cat she had to get a rabies shot (or vaccination or something of the sort).

[Nevermore]

if my pet parrot was bitten by a rabid animal and survived, I'd handle with care because it seems the virus can hang around at least for a little while. But the whole scenario is wildly unlikely.

Ah, don't worry about that. It is VERY unlikely as you said. Rabies, when it isn't in a mammal host, is very fragile. UV light kills it. Soap and water kills it. It barely lasts a few hours on a counter top. It isn't like the cold virus or various bacteria that can survive for days, weeks, even years and still be infective (or even the evil Raccoon Roundworm that nothing short of a blowtorch will kill). The only way you can catch Rabies is if it gets in an open wound....or rub it in your eyes. There is some argument over whether you'd catch it if you ATE a rabid animal, but nobody has decided to try it and find out that I know of. People still take precautions up the wazoo when dealing with rabies, simply because it is so lethal...but it is very difficult to catch. I could necropsy a rabid animal with no gloves on and not catch it, so long as I did not have any open wounds on my hands.

I was bitten by a cat, back before I was vaccinated, and was working at a vet clinic. And this was a pet cat (its illegal here to have a cat or a dog that isn't vaccinated against rabies). And it bit me as it was on deaths door (was hit by a car). The vet went banana's, and had its head sent out for testing and gave me a big lecture on rabies. I didn't get the post-exposure vaccines, which was stupid of me...but it was also because the owner was insistent that the cat was fully vaccinated.

In the states, you really do need to keep an eye out regardless....especially since the government wont pay for the post exposure shot for you. They are VERY expensive and invasive. My pre-exposure vaccines were a series of three shots totaling $600 (I had to pay because I wasn't bitten...really should have faked a bite and saved the money). I think the post exposure are more expensive, with more injections given over a shorter time period in the place where you were bitten. (Rabies in the US: http://www.cdc.gov/rabies/location/usa/ ... imals.html)

Rabies is just one of many diseases people don't know a whole lot about, but are out there to a greater extent than anyone knows of. Hantavirus and the bubonic plague are two more nobody really thinks of anymore. But they're out there! (buwhahahaha!)

[entrancedbymyGCC]

Rabies is just one of many diseases people don't know a whole lot about, but are out there to a greater extent than anyone knows of. Hantavirus and the bubonic plague are two more nobody really thinks of anymore. But they're out there! (buwhahahaha!)

Actually, as someone who has spent a lot of time around horse facilities and the attendant rodent population, THOSE I do consider if I find an ill mouse...

[Nevermore]

Oh good! I cringe every time people ignore my advice when cleaning up after mice or other rodents. Nobody takes it seriously around here.