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[RC] Rabies facts - k s swigartLisa Salas said: John didn't say they were immune, only that they don't die from it. So does that mean they can be carriers all their lives and never suffer from the disease themselves but still pass it on? All mammals that have been infected with rabies can be "carriers" without showing any symptoms; whether this carrier status lasts for "all their lives" or not, depends on how long it may take for the infected mammal to die of something else before showing rabies symptoms. It is, in fact, the fact that symptoms take some time to show up, that makes it so people can be treated for rabies after having been bitten (i.e. infected) but before becoming symptomatic (virus has spread to the CNS) and survive. After the symptoms show up (which can take varying amounts of time from a few days to years but usually from 2-12 weeks), rabies is almost 100% fatal, and pretty quickly too, even in skunks. If a skunk is showing the odd behaviour of a symptomatic rabid animal, it's gonna be a dead skunk pretty soon. However, skunks are one of the animals that are a known "reservoir" of the rabies virus (bats are also a common one), where presumably it takes a while to go from infection to symptomatic (but I don't know this for sure). But all mammals go pretty quickly from symptomatic to dead. For all I know, _I_ am an asymptomatic rabies carreir. Hmmmmm..... kat Orange County, Calif. :) =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= Ridecamp is a service of Endurance Net, http://www.endurance.net. Information, Policy, Disclaimer: http://www.endurance.net/Ridecamp Subscribe/Unsubscribe http://www.endurance.net/ridecamp/logon.asp Ride Long and Ride Safe!! =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
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