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Published Date: 2012-08-07 15:22:49
Subject: PRO/AH> Rabies - Peru (06): comment
Archive Number: 20120807.1232936

RABIES - PERU (06): COMMENT
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Date: Tue 7 Aug 2012
From: Henry Wilde [edited]

The comment by Pat Burke [ProMED-mail archive no. 20120805.1229534] explains why we would expect asymptomatic rabies survivors in a vampire bat endemic region like Peru and elsewhere as well. This is not a new concept as Pat said. This phenomenon was described well a long time ago by my old friend Erich Follmann of the University of Alaska, Fairbanks [Epidem Infect 1994; 113: 137-41]. An Eskimo fox trapper (over 3000 kills in almost 50 years of working the Kuskokwim River in central Alaska) had no rabies vaccine, no serious illness that he recalls and yet a neutralizing antibody titre of 2.3 IU/mL. A level that you usually only see after a full PEP [post-exposure prophylaxis] regimen and then only at this level for less than a year. His skinning method was the traditional native trapper one for small animals such as foxes, beavers, squirrels, rabbits, etc.: you cut the animals skin at the throat, grab it with your own teeth and pull it down and off with both hands. Try it; it works well in the field.

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Henry Wilde, MD
Bangkok
Thailand
<henrywilde27@gmail.com>

[ProMED-mail thanks Dr Wilde for his comments and a description of a colorful, even though unhygienic, method for skinning wild mammals. Other health concerns may make skinners reluctant to try this method, even though the native fox trapper was reported to be in good health. There may be more examples of rabies antibodies in people not vaccinated against the virus than has been commonly thought. The recent comments on that theme raise interesting questions about the nature of human rabies virus exposure and infection without resulting disease. - Mod.TY]

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