Despite a vaccine and treatment once morest rabies supposed to be 100% effective, this 84-year-old man did not survive.
It is a rare and tragic event that took place in the state of Minnesota in the United States. An 84-year-old man who had been vaccinated once morest rabies lost his life following contracting the disease from a bat bite. Even the rabies treatment that was supposed to fight the virus didn’t work.
Bitten in his sleep
This very rare case has been documented in the journal Clinical Infectious Disease. It all started in July 2020 when the octogenarian woke up to a silver bat biting his hand. A common species in many US states.
After analyzing the animal’s corpse, the doctors discovered that it had rabies and decided to offer post-exposure treatment to combat the disease in addition to a vaccine.
He died 6 months later
If the treatment provided is normally 100% effective, the man nevertheless begins to experience typical symptoms of rabies five months later. He consults in particular for pain in the face.
Symptoms which will become more and more serious until the death of the patient on January 22, 2021 despite the efforts of the doctors.
An exceptional case
Medical professionals didn’t immediately think the man had died of rabies, as he had received treatments that were supposed to neutralize the disease. However, analyzes carried out on his saliva and in his brain will reveal that it is indeed the virus transmitted by the bat that killed him.
This is the first case of rabies treatment and vaccination failure in the Western Hemisphere. The doctors say that apart from his advanced age, the man had no apparent comorbidities that might have caused the treatment to fail. They eventually discovered that the man had a monoclonal gammopathy of undetermined significance that may have minimized the immune response to the rabies vaccine.
