One of her sisters is seriously ill and the other is asymptomatic.
A seven-year-old boy died Wednesday followingnoon in the southern Mexican state of Oaxaca following being bitten by a bat, local health services confirmed.
The minor was one of the three brothers admitted to the general hospital ‘Dr. Aurelio Valdivieso’, in the entity’s capital, with symptoms of possible human rabies. His older sister, eight years old, survives in critical condition, while his two-year-old younger is asymptomatic.
The diagnosis of the siblings and four of their relatives under observation is awaiting confirmation by the Epidemiological Diagnosis and Reference Institute (InDRE), which is currently carrying out the respective laboratory tests.
The patient was admitted to said medical unit following presenting health complications following suffering a bite from a wild animal in recent days. Unfortunately and despite the efforts of health specialists, the minor lost his life.
— Health Services (@SSO_GobOax) December 29, 2022
What caused the infection in the minors?
The three children are from the community of Palo de Lima, one of the poorest in the Sierra Sur of Oaxaca. According to local media reports, the brothers lived in a private house with basic conditions, to the detriment of the security and needs of the family.
Due to the poor protection of the home, the minors were surprised on the night of December 1 by one or more bats, which attacked them, causing typical symptoms of rabies.
“They were bitten by a bat; perhaps one or more than one, it is difficult to know if it was just one animal or several in a group,” said the Undersecretary of Health, Hugo López-Gatell, last Tuesday.
Despite the condition, the entity’s authorities did not report the case until December 24, when two of the brothers were already in a delicate state of health.
According to the most recent statement from the Oaxaca Health Services, the affected eight-year-old girl is in critical condition as a result of her lack of response to the treatment provided. The girl is intubated on a mechanical ventilator and receives sedation and pain relief.
Unofficial versions report that the little girl has already been declared brain dead and that her chances of survival are low.
“In all registered cases of rabies there is no survival, at least in our country,” Dr. Rocío Arias, director of the hospital where the minor is hospitalized, explained to a radio station.
Although the cases of wild rabies have not been confirmed, doctors at the hospital are treating those affected as if it were the disease, López-Gatell confirmed.
As for the two-year-old girl, she is in good health, since she is asymptomatic, but she is under observation and is being treated with anti-rabies vaccines, said the Oaxaca health secretary, Alma Lilia Velasco Hernández, through from a video posted on social media on December 26.
Should the public be concerned?
Given the situation, the Oaxaca authorities deployed an epidemiological surveillance protocol and reinforced the vaccination campaign for felines and domestic dogs in the state. However, so far no other cases have been reported in the state.
In addition, López-Gatell ruled out the implementation of a health alert in the country for the three cases of possible rabies detected.
“This case does not apply an alert, it is an individual case,” said the official, who regretted the conditions in the brothers.
In addition to these three cases, the undersecretary indicated that one more case of possible rabies was registered due to the bite of a domestic cat in a 29-year-old woman in the state of Nayarit.
Derived from the three cases reported in Oaxaca, the state authorities are currently evaluating the level of deterioration of the health system of the municipality of San Lorenzo Texmelúcan, where Palo de Lima is located, to see if the access of minors to health care services.
The closest health center to the town where the brothers are from is two and a half hours from the community.
The state government is also investigating whether there was any negligence in the treatment of the children that may have influenced the worsening of the patients.
“Everything that happened will be investigated, whether there was negligence or any other action by the health centers in the Sierra Sur region,” the governor of Oaxaca, Salomón Jara Cruz, said Tuesday at a press conference.
It’s not the first time
In 2019, Mexico became the first country to eliminate rabies caused by dogs, following two consecutive years of not registering any cases of the disease. However, the one caused by wild species continues to wreak havoc in the nation.
According to data from the Ministry of Health, from 2010 to 2019 there were 13 deaths from wild rabies, of which 76.9% were caused by flying mammals. The last death registered in the country was detected last April in the state of Jalisco, when a 41-year-old man lost his life following being bitten by a bat, according to local authorities.
What is human rage?
The World Health Organization (WHO) defines rabies as an infectious disease that affects all mammals, which is transmitted to humans when they are bitten or scratched by infected animals.
The disease causes inflammation of the brain and spinal cord, causing fever, headache, and delusions in those infected.
According to the Secretary of Health, the total number of deaths caused by rabies in Mexico is due to the fact that those affected did not immediately go to medical services to receive vaccines once morest the infection.
According to the authority, once the disease takes root in the patient’s neurological system, the chances of survival are almost nil.
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