Showing posts with label hunter. Show all posts
Showing posts with label hunter. Show all posts

Saturday, February 4, 2012

Man treated for rabies after field dressing infected deer

A Pennsylvania man was treated for rabies after exposure from an infected deer he had shot and field dressed.
A few important points:
Hunters should avoid field dressing deer that look abnormal or that had acted abnormally (including hides with large or multiple lesions, internal organs with abscesses or that are foul smelling, or an animal that has exhibited unusual behavior, such as this case where the animal is growling.) In most all cases, the hunter should still take down the animal and then contact the Game Commission.
Always wear latex gloves when field dressing a deer, being sure to keep fluids from contracting your own skin.  (That includes refraining from spreading blood on your face as you pretend to be the Great Hunter.)
A little more on rabies from the CDC:
Rabies is a preventable viral disease of mammals most often transmitted through the bite of a rabid animal. The vast majority of rabies cases reported to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) each year occur in wild animals like raccoons, skunks, bats, and foxes.

The rabies virus infects the central nervous system, ultimately causing disease in the brain and death. The early symptoms of rabies in people are similar to that of many other illnesses, including fever, headache, and general weakness or discomfort. As the disease progresses, more specific symptoms appear and may include insomnia, anxiety, confusion, slight or partial paralysis, excitation, hallucinations, agitation, hypersalivation (increase in saliva), difficulty swallowing, and hydrophobia (fear of water). Death usually occurs within days of the onset of these symptoms
People usually get rabies from the bite of a rabid animal. It is also possible, but quite rare, that people may get rabies if infectious material from a rabid animal, such as saliva, gets directly into their eyes, nose, mouth, or a wound.
Scratches, abrasions, open wounds, or mucous membranes contaminated with saliva or other potentially infectious material (such as brain tissue) from a rabid animal constitute non-bite exposures. Occasionally reports of non-bite exposure are such that postexposure prophylaxis is given.
Hunters risk run-in with rabieshttp://www.poconorecord.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20120203/NEWS/202030348/-1/NEWS01