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90% of US Human Rabies Cases Undetected, Study Suggests
Developing
According to researchers from the Pandemic Sciences Institute at the University of Oxford, the extremely low count of confirmed human rabies cases in the US each year – just 2.4 cases annually on average from 2000 to 2024 – seems much lower than it should be.
A new analysis published in Communications Health suggests that official figures may dramatically underestimate how many human cases of rabies are actually circulating in the US each year. While it might seem unlikely that dozens of cases of rabies are being missed by doctors each year, that's exactly the scenario that plays out in the case of the infected organ donors, with the causes of their deaths only being discovered tragically late in each instance.
In both cases, though, nobody at the time recognized the fatal infection for what it was, presumably because the symptoms could have been explained by many other possible (and likely more probable) causes. Related: US Man Dies From Rabies After Receiving Infected Kidney In another rabies-infected case reported in 2005 , the donor experienced nausea, vomiting, brain hemorrhaging, and seizures before death.
Later, when his rabies infection was discovered, his friends recalled he had mentioned being bitten by a bat.
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What's still developing
- A new analysis published in Communications Health suggests that official figures may dramatically underestimate how many human cases of rabies are actually circulating in the US each year.
- According to researchers from the Pandemic Sciences Institute at the University of Oxford, the extremely low count of confirmed human rabies cases in the US each year – just 2.4 cases annually on average from 2000 to…
- While it might seem unlikely that dozens of cases of rabies are being missed by doctors each year, that's exactly the scenario that plays out in the case of the infected organ donors, with the causes of their deaths…
- Related: US Man Dies From Rabies After Receiving Infected Kidney In another rabies-infected case reported in 2005 , the donor experienced nausea, vomiting, brain hemorrhaging, and seizures before death.
- Later, when his rabies infection was discovered, his friends recalled he had mentioned being bitten by a bat.
- In both cases, though, nobody at the time recognized the fatal infection for what it was, presumably because the symptoms could have been explained by many other possible (and likely more probable) causes.
Sources
- ScienceAlertlink