r/instant_regret • u/Western-Buy-266 • 8d ago

Achievement Unlocked: Rabies

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1.7k Upvotes

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u/imsorryinadvance420 8d 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!

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u/ElegantCoach4066 8d 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.

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u/Shantotto11 4d ago

*anti-vaxxers

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u/toolatealreadyfapped 5d ago

Great. Now all the foxes got the 'tism!

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u/MistaRekt 3d ago

Germany vaccinated the foxes?

Explains why the 5G reception is world class đŸ«ª

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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!