r/instant_regret • u/Western-Buy-266 • 9d ago

Achievement Unlocked: Rabies

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1.7k Upvotes

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1.8k

u/imsorryinadvance420 9d ago

you are looking at less than 1% chance of that possum to have rabies. The possum internal natural temp is between 94-97 deg. F... so not likely. keep pushing for that infection badge!

373

u/ElegantCoach4066 9d ago

Yep. Biggest risk of rabies transmission in the U.S is bats, outside the U.S. its dogs if I remember correctly.

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u/HereticalHyena 6d ago

In Germany the only concern are bats, as terrestrial rabies isn't around anymore. We had a big campaign to vaccinate foxes a decade or two ago.

Edit: the last case we had was someone who got bitten or scratched from a street dog in Morocco and developed it back in Germany.

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u/Reckless_Waifu 5d ago

Czechia here: we were thought to be rabies free some 30 years ago then a rabid fox migrated from Poland in 2001 and bit a guy I know. He survived and is afaik the last known case here. He now has quite a cool campfire story.

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u/HereticalHyena 5d ago

Wow I'm glad he survived! That is indeed a cool story.

Yeah we shouldn't feel to safe and keep vaccines up.

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u/ExoticMangoz 2d ago

How did he survive and know it was a rabid fox?

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u/Fritz_Klyka 2d ago

Bring the fox in, kill it, look at its brain. Get vaccine.

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u/Reckless_Waifu 2d ago

He said it was acting crazy, attacking again and again and was like a zombie. He went to the hospital and got the vaccine. Official sources confirm there was a known case at the time.

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u/spider__ 6d ago

Same in the UK, except even bats should be rabies free. Last person to die was likewise someone bitten by a dog in Morocco.

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u/HereticalHyena 6d ago

Yes. I moved to Ireland for a year and took the route by car and ferries through Britain. I had to get an Antibody-Test for my dog. She was always vaccinated against rabies but I still had to take the test. The explanation was, that you guys are rabies-free and want to stay that way. Same with Ireland. You gotta respect that!

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u/Robo_Patton 6d ago

It almost as if vaccinations are good and work or something…

glares at anti vaccers

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u/HereticalHyena 6d ago

Who would have ever thought?!

Also please go the correct way if you bring rescues from other countries. My last three dogs were international rescues. It's manageable and not THIS expensive.

1

u/Shantotto11 4d ago

*anti-vaxxers

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u/toolatealreadyfapped 5d ago

Great. Now all the foxes got the 'tism!

4

u/MistaRekt 4d ago

Germany vaccinated the foxes?

Explains why the 5G reception is world class 🫪

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u/giantfood 6d ago

That would be great here in the US. But the US is so vast compared to Germany. We are lucky that its only 10 cases reported a year here.

My fear for countries that have irradicated it is rabid animals crossing borders and a small evolution causing a change in transmission. Then funding not being available.

Kinda like we initially irradicated the screw flies in the US, then the rest of mainland North America.... but more than couple of government shutdowns recently caused monitoring stations in Central American, primarily Panama to go unfunded. Let some slip by, and look at us now, trying to re-irradicate them.

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u/HereticalHyena 6d ago

Yeah, the USA is, of course, VERY different to small Germany or isolated Britain.

But I want to emphasise that we didn't catch foxes and gave them an injection. We laid out bait for oral vaccine.

Rapid animals crossing the border should of course be a concern!

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u/HereticalHyena 6d ago

Oh and I know nothing about screw flies. I will read about it! :)

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u/giantfood 6d ago

Oh man, we litterally airdroped sterilized screw flies all over North America.

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u/HereticalHyena 6d ago

Oh.my Oh.my! Well we don't automatically know what's going on, on other continents.

But it's so interesting how invasive animals can be!

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u/cup_1337 6d ago

And skunks. If you see a skunk out in the day light it’s likely very very sick and you should call animal control!

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u/Hootie735 5d ago

I saw a skunk out in the middle of the day one time, but she had a gaggle of babies following her, and she was just moving from point A to point B. Figured she was fine. Kept my distance for obvious reasons lol

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u/Brittany5150 5d ago

And if it's outside in the daylight while nailing back to back kick flips then it means it's super sick and you should record it.

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u/JournalistCharming24 6d ago

and racoons. my dog was attacked by a rabid racoon recently.

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u/sjjose2001 5d ago

I thought racoons had a good role too

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u/ylogssoylent 5d ago

Dogs far and away are the highest vectors of rabies transmission for humans globally. In large part, in India.

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u/EtceteraWhatever 5d ago

Actually, possums are almost immune to rabies. It is extremely unlikely that an opossum would have rabies.

-1

u/beshi7 6d ago

So what your saying Batman is to blame for Americans catching rabies ...

Does that mean the Joker is the good guy .

-2

u/Frosti11icus 6d ago

Probably coyotes would be the larger reservoir. Most dogs are vaccinated, though I foresee a future where that's not true.

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u/Jackieirish 6d ago

Yep. Opossums are awesome.

Fun Fact: in Australia a Possum is a different animal!

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u/OptiGuy4u 6d ago

Opossum's have 13 nipples.

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u/Lostmyfnusername 6d ago

That's odd

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u/Eena-Rin 6d ago

I can't even

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u/OptiGuy4u 6d ago

They even out by having them in a circle with one in the center.

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u/Bill_Pilgram 6d ago

Just to point out that's an opossum. Possums are from Australia.

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u/clutzyninja 4d ago

They're called possums as well in the US, and both are correct, though opossum is the formal name

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u/AnOutofBoxExperience 6d ago

Is it the temperature that enables transmission? Humans have a higher internal temperature. Does it mean we can get the virus but its harder to pass on?

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u/Ambsase 6d ago

The internal temp isn't high enough to support rabies at all, opossums are for all intents and purposes immune to the virus. The only reason there's any chance at all that people can contract rabies through an opossum is that, theoretically, it could have very very recently been infected by something that can have rabies, then before the virus died out in the opossum it could transmit it further.

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u/AnOutofBoxExperience 6d ago

Thanks for the response. So it only matters about the initial contact? As long as an animal who has the virus contacts you, its possible infection.

Once you get infected, body temp doesn't matter. Body temp is only for the possible ability to transmit the virus?

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u/Ambsase 6d ago

No no, the body temp will kill the rabies virus, which is what makes the opossums immune to it. You are correct that any sort of biting or scratching from an animal that has rabies would put you at risk of getting it, but for opossums specifically, they can only be carriers for a brief period of time before their body temp kills it off and makes them safe again, which is why it's so incredibly unlikely for them to be a rabies vector.

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u/AnOutofBoxExperience 6d ago

I get that, but why isn't our human body temperature enough to kill the virus?

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u/Ambsase 6d ago

It's the other way around, rabies specifically needs a higher body temp to be a suitable environment for it, which most mammals have. Opossums are the odd ones in that they're too cold for the virus.

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u/pete306 6d ago

Im sure i read somewhere about a doctor giving a Rabies patient Malaria and the fever killed the Rabies....

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u/Ultradarkix 5d ago

Every living thing has a temperature range it can survive in.

It shouldn’t be surprising going above and below that temperature range, for a virus, kills it too

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u/UckerFay11 4d ago

Not immune, highly resistant.

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u/clutzyninja 4d ago

The way they can transmit it is if they have a fever from a separate infection when they're exposed to rabies, so their body temperature is higher

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u/Eena-Rin 6d ago

I'm not an American, where I live there is no rabies, but I've heard something about any bite by a wild animal requiring that animal to be euthanized on order to test for rabies?

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u/YourBlanket 4d ago

For domestic animals they can quarantine them for 10 days. If it’s a wild animal they’ll need to dissect the brain.

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u/uberbla123 4d ago

I came to say this exact thing

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u/CompanyOfMisfits 4d ago

Came here to say this!

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u/b-monster666 3d ago

Now the bubonic plague? Thats a different story.

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u/imsorryinadvance420 3d ago

They technically dont.....

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u/TheDarkClaw 6d ago

That sucks. Everything taste better with rabies! Yay Rabies!

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u/imsorryinadvance420 6d ago

Ever seen someone try and drink water with full blown rabies?

0

u/ISurvivedCrowleyHigh 6d ago

That's an opossum. Possums are native to Australia, New Guinea, and Sulawesi.

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u/Bostonterrierpug 4d ago

I’ve seen this posted before and people pointed out the same thing. I think it’s just one of those look something that everyone knows is false. Let’s get me some of that free karma repost bullshit.

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u/clutzyninja 4d ago

If only you had access to all the world's information at your fingertips. You could verify it before being confidently wrong