Re: RC: Rabies

[Trishmare@aol.com]

LOL . . . oh no, I'm not doing this again!  I've gotten into Internet list 
discussion on the vaccination issue before, including one right here on 
ridecamp years ago.  In my experience, the arguments for and against inspire 
increasingly lengthy letters, of ever rising hostility levels, and ever 
lengthening lists of resources or professional degrees.  And the argument 
goes nowhere.  Those who feel secure using vaccines . . . I say, hey, go for 
it.  Use 'em.  It's your decision and I'd be the last person to interfere 
with someone else's free-will choice.  Those who do not feel so secure will 
find the alternative information, with or without my engaging in a debate I 
do not have the time for.  My energy on this front is primarily legislative 
anymore, and reserved for keeping vaccine use as a CHOICE, especially as 
regards children.  
    Vaccination is neither as safe nor as necessary as is commonly reported.  
There is another side to the story.  I'd be happy to discuss that in private 
with anyone who wishes to, but I'm out to convert nobody and ridecamp is not 
the appropriate forum for that in any case.  And, as Colin Raye so succintly 
puts it, "That's my story and I'm stickin' to it."  

<< >  In the last 18 
 >deaths from rabies, the animal which transmitted the disease was a bat.
 >
 >Though it conceivably COULD happen, NO case of a rabies infected horse 
 >passing the disease to a human as EVER been recorded.  Anywhere.
 
    You might keep in mind that this is due largely in part to the fact that
 while bat exposures are sometimes inapparent--i.e., people exposed while
 sleeping who don't realize it, an exposure to a dog, cat, raccoon, horse,
 etc., is usually pretty apparent, hence treated with post-exposure
 prophylaxis, and bingo--no death.
    Also, humans seem to be more sensitive to the bat strain than to some
 others. 
    I don't have the data in fron of me, but I would strongly suspect that in
 virtually every case of known equine rabies, those exposed were treated, no?
            --CMN
  >>

Trish (when will I learn to keep my big mouth shut? hmmmm . . . probably 
never . . .) & pretty David (last time I looked he was still standing . . 
.looked pretty healthy, too . . .)
Grand Blanc, Michigan (where if it hadn't been raining, I'd have been riding 
today)


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