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Child dies from rabies after bat found in room, Canada officials say.
(www.cbsnews.com)
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That's literally the health institutions protocol now a days. Though for kids it depends how credible the kid is about not being exposed.
I looked at the CDC website before posting Aunt. It says the only indication for treatment is a bite or a scratch from species known to carry rabies. It doesn't say anything about testing for mere exposure.
I guess I see the counterpoints.
It's a kid. The duration of the exposure is unknown. Whether there was any contact is unknown. Bat. Bites or scratches can be invisible. Bires or scratches could be mistaken.
What's the scuttlebutt here, your saying in this situation to test the kid or administer a vaccine?
I'm certain the medical staff 's determination of The credibility of a fact attested to by a child is not a factor.
We're also assuming this kid isn't a straight up victim of healthcare inequality. The article is light on details. Perhaps the parents considered this, searched the web, searched for bites or scratches, and the cost of seeking care felt too great for this family? I didn't catch if this happened in a civilized nation with universal health.
Fuck, this story is terrifying. Reminds me in some ways of when a kid dies in a hot car.
You can't test the kid. What I'm saying is a lot of people in here are quick to judge the parents, but clearly even to medical professionals the situation is not cut and dry.
As I mentioned in another comment, I've been there. I have been through PPE, and I had to seriously advocate for myself to the ER doctor for him to go consult an infectious disease specialist before they agreed.
Health Canada guidance is a bit more nuanced
Based on all the comments in this thread, this seems like the best course to me.
Honestly, I didn't know much about this and didn't have a strong opinion from the beginning. I just looked quick on Google and saw the results for America was to only seek treatment if there's been a confirmed bite or scratch.
This Canadian advice makes way more sense. I like that last paragraph that explains the protocol from 1998 to 2009 would have required treatment of 314,000 people to prevent one case. This poor kid in the article might have been that one case.
But it seems like under the current recommendations the kid would not have been tested. It says now treatment only only after direct contact, defined as a bat touching or landing on a person. In this situation, I think they didn't know if the bat had touched the kid at all.