HIV and ID Observations

January 10th, 2012

First Rabies Case in State in Over 75 Years Raises Questions (Again) About Preventive Strategies

The recent case of bat-related rabies in a Barnstable man has prompted my colleague Larry Madoff, director of the Division of Epidemiology and Immunization at the Mass Department of Public Health, to write this fine commentary in the Atlantic. I particularly like these passages: Rabies is perhaps the archetypal zoonotic disease, one spread between animals and humans. […]

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February 2nd, 2010

Bats in the Bedroom: Canadians Make a Policy Change

ID doctors know all too well the panicky call — usually from a terrified friend, family member, or colleague, or possibly the emergency room or primary care doc — about finding a bat in the house. Usually in the bedroom. (In one memorable case, it was the house cat’s leaping in the air to try and catch […]

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May 7th, 2009

Human Rabies from Bats: Another Look at the Numbers

The gang from Canada is at it again, reviewing human rabies cases from bats and trying to make some sense of the data. (For a summary of their outstanding prior paper in CID, read this.) But before we get to their latest masterwork, here are some questions to ponder.  While doing so, keep in mind the practice […]

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April 17th, 2008

Required Reading: Bat-Related Human Rabies

A group of researchers in Canada have done infectious diseases experts a big favor — they’ve summarized a staggering amount of useful data on bat-related cases of human rabies in a paper just published in Clinical Infectious Diseases. (Note to non-ID specialists: infectious diseases doctors spend a lot of time answering questions about rabies in general […]

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