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View Full Version : Why is rabies an infamous topic on HA forums?



MagpieWitch
26-08-18, 23:07
Just a thread like that, why is it one of the more hated fear, along with brain eating amoeba and ALS/MS?? People absolutely hate talking about these 3-4 culprits.

nomorepanic
26-08-18, 23:09
It never used to be on here until recently and then we got flooded with rabies posts for no reason.

MagpieWitch
26-08-18, 23:13
It never used to be on here until recently and then we got flooded with rabies posts for no reason.

Could it be because recently a little boy died from a rabid bat bite? :( (no not casper ninja bat)

Andrash
26-08-18, 23:20
Just a thread like that, why is it one of the more hated fear, along with brain eating amoeba and ALS/MS?? People absolutely hate talking about these 3-4 culprits.

MS is not so hated. ALS is, because there is a sticky post which explains to HA sufferers why they don't have ALS, but of course, nobody bothers to read before posting :D

As for brain eating amoeba, well, it's a bit self - explanatory, isn't it? :)

nomorepanic
26-08-18, 23:23
Where did someone die of rabies ?

Fishmanpa
26-08-18, 23:46
Where did someone die of rabies ?

Did a Google. Little boy from Florida in Jan of 2018. Father found a sick bat, put it in a bucket to dispose of it and the kid touched it after being told not to.

It's important to note that rabies cases in the United States are extremely rare. Only twenty-eight cases of human rabies have been diagnosed in the United States since 2006, of which 8 cases were infected outside the United States and its territories. Do the math :whistles: You have a better chance of getting hit by lightning or a car or winning the lottery for that matter.

Positive thoughts

MagpieWitch
26-08-18, 23:49
Did a Google. Little boy from Florida in Jan of 2018. Father found a sick bat, put it in a bucket to dispose of it and the kid touched it after being told not to.

It's important to note that rabies cases in the United States are extremely rare. Only twenty-eight cases of human rabies have been diagnosed in the United States since 2006, of which 8 cases were infected outside the United States and its territories. Do the math :whistles: You have a better chance of getting hit by lightning or a car or winning the lottery for that matter.

Positive thoughts

And to point out for ninja bats - the bat was sick, couldn't fly and the child stuck its hand in the bucket so it got bitten (scratched according to news but you can't know)
It was an obviously rabid sick bat.
This story is terrible and I cried when I read it the other day (I am in a rabies fear phase rn)

nomorepanic
26-08-18, 23:50
I have bats flying round my back garden - they swoop really close then fly away when they realise you are not food.

Love to see them but never have I ever once thought I was attacked and bitten and given rabies from them.

Catherine S
26-08-18, 23:55
It never used to be on here until recently and then we got flooded with rabies posts for no reason.


The fear of being bitten by a rabid bat seems to be an American fear rather than a UK / European fear, and it appeared on this forum after the members of Anxiety Zone...which had mostly American members...shut down and the majority moved over to NMP.

But apparently in some parts of the US there's still a risk, if that's correct? Hence the fear I guess.

Cath ☺

Fishmanpa
26-08-18, 23:58
I have bats flying round my back garden - they swoop really close then fly away when they realise you are not food.

Love to see them but never have I ever once thought I was attacked and bitten and given rabies from them.

I'm the same Nic. I've said this before... When I was a kid, my friend and I used to take a pair of nylons (Moms weren't pleased), put a rock in the toe and throw it in the air when the bats started flying. A bat would go for it, get it's claws hung up in the stockings and the weight of the rock would bring them down. We'd catch them, handle them etc. I'm still here ;)

Like they say, a rabid animal is obviously sick.

Positive thoughts

NervUs
27-08-18, 00:01
Where did someone die of rabies ?

Probably because rabies is a terrifying illness that people have feared for millenia. There is tons of documentation of the fear of dog bites. Emily bronte seared herself with a hot poker after getting bitten by a dog. Until fairly recentlt , like the 70s when dog vaccines got good, rabies cases were higher in the US. So , historical fear doesn't just evaporate. It passes through generations, in stories and zeitgeist. Plus, newer trends in rabies are pretty sensational bc they are mosrlt cryptic and can't be traced to a known bite or exposure.

MagpieWitch
27-08-18, 00:05
Probably because rabies is a terrifying illness that people have feared for millenia. There is tons of documentation of the fear of dog bites. Emily bronte seared herself with a hot poker after getting bitten by a dog. Until fairly recentlt , like the 70s when dog vaccines got good, rabies cases were higher in the US. So , historical fear doesn't just evaporate. It passes through generations, in stories and zeitgeist. Plus, newer trends in rabies are pretty sensational bc they are mosrlt cryptic and can't be traced to a known bite or exposure.

Yeah of course but I think the florida boy news sparked up the topic again. My fear is from being scratched by a kitten, tho I had my ninja bat fears over the years.

LouiseAndy
27-08-18, 00:07
My Dad and his siblings were often bitten by all types of animals that could carry rabies he was a child (he worked on a farm all his life). They would be out working until late, they would all get bitten when they worked on certain crops. They were exposed to a lot of stuff. None of them ever got seriously sick! My Dad is heading for his 70's and all his siblings are perfect as well.

None of them ever got really sick, I think my Dad's twin got a local bacterial infection on the part of the arm he was bitten once? They are all still doing well! Medicine has moved forward and lot since he was young!

MagpieWitch
27-08-18, 00:22
Last year I was convinced a bat swooped in on me in the park and scratched me on the head.
This year my rabies fear is because my neighbors got some kittens dropped off in their yard (they have like 5 cats) and the kids including my brother were playing with them. Long story short one scratched me when I almost dropped him and drew few dots of blood and I think I have rabies - even tho all kittens are alive and well 6 weeks after. (And my brother still plays with em)
HA is that "what if im the first and only in the world" deal

NervUs
27-08-18, 01:35
Yeah of course but I think the florida boy news sparked up the topic again. My fear is from being scratched by a kitten, tho I had my ninja bat fears over the years.

I'm not so sure. I have had rabies fears for the past 6 years. Not constantly but triggered by wildlife getting up in my space. It started when a stray cat killed a bat and brought it to my garage and I thought my son might have gotten licked by the cat and I googled. We also had raccoons coming around b/c we left food for the cat.

You can't unsee what you see!

Fishmanpa
27-08-18, 01:39
I'm truly sorry you still have this fear in light of the impossibility and the fact that both your parents being medical professionals not being concerned in the least.

Hope you feel better soon.

Positive thoughts

MyNameIsTerry
27-08-18, 01:58
Probably because rabies is a terrifying illness that people have feared for millenia. There is tons of documentation of the fear of dog bites. Emily bronte seared herself with a hot poker after getting bitten by a dog. Until fairly recentlt , like the 70s when dog vaccines got good, rabies cases were higher in the US. So , historical fear doesn't just evaporate. It passes through generations, in stories and zeitgeist. Plus, newer trends in rabies are pretty sensational bc they are mosrlt cryptic and can't be traced to a known bite or exposure.

So, why mainly the US? It's much rarer to see someone from the UK post and this site is more UK members.

Why does it pass through generations? Through scaremongering? Because surely everyone would be afraid of many more deadly diseases that modern medicine has made great efforts to stop.

TB is on the rise in the UK yet no threads.

---------- Post added at 01:58 ---------- Previous post was at 01:48 ----------


Just a thread like that, why is it one of the more hated fear, along with brain eating amoeba and ALS/MS?? People absolutely hate talking about these 3-4 culprits.

There's obviously more threads this year than in previous years which is one element.

Another element is other members jumping on them. We keep getting "oh no not another one of these" on a board that is wall to wall with cancers, brain tumours, previously ALS, etc.

The same members seem to follow these threads saying the same things and showing frustration. If they didn't, there would be less going on in these threads.

Look at the OCD board. It must be 99% about intrusive thoughts yet no one is complaining other than on the odd occasion and my observation of those is that they are mainly those from the HA board who would say it there.

There is an element of narrow definitions of the disorders that come under HA. Much of OCD can be the absolute impossible, afterall these disorders aren't so much based on the true possibility than they at irrationality. People seem to forget the subconscious doesn't care whether it's possible or not, all it does it add a fear and keep running it's "process" thinking it is protecting you. Facts don't matter to the subconscious, it doesn't have that type of power to make decisions and relies on the conscious mind to make decisions. The subconscious goes on what core beliefs, memories, feedback, etc it gets to form something.

Consciously you have to challenge this (or use acceptance to undermine it) just as you have to stop yourself react with panic when you feel panic coming on or the outcome is more panic. But you can accept it all you wish and the subconscious will still keep sending the same old "data" to the conscious mind because it sees a valid fear still in "memory". It takes time to change it and until you do you have to learn to accept that the mind is doing what is always has using the same processes.

Just like anxiety if you give it important it learns it's important. The same could be said of the threads in some respects.

NervUs
27-08-18, 04:03
So, why mainly the US? It's much rarer to see someone from the UK post and this site is more UK members.

Why does it pass through generations? Through scaremongering? Because surely everyone would be afraid of many more deadly diseases that modern medicine has made great efforts to stop.

TB is on the rise in the UK yet no threads.[COLOR="blue"]

It passes through generations because it is not too far removed that people actually had to worry about it a lot, so different generations interacting keeps older fears that might be less risky today very much alive. Basically, part of it is an older generation, who lived when animals weren't routinely vaxxed, telling a younger gen, "don't go near a dog or cat b/c you'll get rabies." Is that scaremongering? I don't really think so. It's just that what was prudent for a generation and what was "wise" before doesn't automatically adapt to new facts (i.e the fact of vaccination and rabies effectively wiped out in dogs).

The other thing, objectively, is that there is more rabies in wildlife in the US than there is in Europe, from what I have read. It's fun to say, American rabies fear is so illogical because only 1 or 2 in 300 million get it a year. But, that is because 40,000 or more get vaccinated for exposures each year. It's estimated about 40% of that number is wrongly vaccinated, i.e. they should not have gotten the PEP. But, that still leaves a good number of people in the US getting rabies prophylaxis after exposures that fall under CDC guidelines as true exposures. Rabies would be much much higher than it is if people were totally blase about animal bites or certain other exposures. I think in the 1940s, there were like 100 rabies cases a year, out of a much smaller total population. It really wasn't that long ago here that dogs weren't routinely vaccinated (like I said, that become law in the 1970s). And, about 25,000 give or take having legit exposures a year means rabies is rightly perceived as a threat and, over a period of time, any person is likely to know a person or two who actually had a run-in with a possibly rabid animals, so awareness is prolonged that way too. Plus, our health departments do try to educate about rabies, wildlife cases make the news, etc.

Bottom line, though, I think there is a focus on rabies that crosses generations simply because there is a very long-lived collective consciousness about it that relates to the fact that humans and dogs are intertwined, and dogs used to be the major rabies transmitter. If it had always been just a wildlife-carried disease, maybe human awareness and fear of it wouldn't have ever been so pronounced. But, it has penetrated human consciousness for millenia. Even Aristotle wrote about rabies.

I agree that there are A LOT more zoonotic diseases to fear that we don't fear (lol), and that is bc we don't know about them. I just learned about tularemia, and my lord, lol!

I am actually surprised, as you seem to be too, by how many people get bent out of shape about rabies threads. Given a centuries or millenias old fascination and mythology about rabies, it would be weird for people now (especially people on a site bc they have anxiety and OCD) to NOT have any concern or fear for rabies at all, especially considering it is endemic in wildlife in the United States (some areas have more of it than others, but nationalism means we don't always think about regions so Americans have general fear when they hear about a US case. Florida and California have a crazy number of wildlife cases, though!) This board brings people from different countries together, esp after AZ bit the dust, so Americans are going to voice concerns that might not apply so much in Europe. And that is just going to have to be okay, lol!!

NancyW
27-08-18, 04:09
I am really fascinated by bats. They are very cool little buggers.
We have them here, we actually hang bat houses to attract them because they eat thousands of mosquitoes every night.

NervUs
27-08-18, 04:18
I am really fascinated by bats. They are very cool little buggers.
We have them here, we actually hang bat houses to attract them because they eat thousands of mosquitoes every night.

I am cool with bats so long as they stay out of my house and way above my head !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I Ill admit, fruit bats and flying foxes are absolutely snugg-able, but the ones we have in the USA are just *shudder* lol

Deepseathree
27-08-18, 08:16
I think it’s because the element of no control. Yes there are vaccines and you can get them up to two weeks plus after transmission from a rabid animal. But it’s the fact that if it actually is rabies that you it’s basically 100% fatal without treatment. It’s kind of the same worry with N. Fowleri.

I’m in the middle of a rabies fear at the moment. There is a raccoon that rummages my trash. I decided to feed him. During one night he gently took something from my hand but his mouth touched my fingers and I got his saliva on my has that had previously had a cut. Rationally I know that if he had rabies the raccoon would not have been as docile with me that night or the following nights. But that doesn’t mean I’m not going to fear rabies.

Plus most people who worry about rabies outside of bats can easily determine if the animal has rabies. Basically if you still see that animal after 10 days, it doesn’t have rabies. At least it doesn’t have it to where it’s transmisable.

paranoid-viking
27-08-18, 08:55
Just a thread like that, why is it one of the more hated fear, along with brain eating amoeba and ALS/MS?? People absolutely hate talking about these 3-4 culprits.

I think people in here feeds each other fears. When I joined two years ago there were hardly any rabies posts here at all; but all of a sudden; there were a bonanza of rabies threads. I think people who comes here for support click on the rabies threads where the fearer list up the symptoms and then another hypocondriac do the same think about whter a bat bit them without noticing and....BINGO!
Same with the brain eating amoeba stuff although I must say those post REALLY are outlandish. I mean, seriously; I thought someone was trolling the first time I read it.

---------- Post added at 09:47 ---------- Previous post was at 09:45 ----------


The fear of being bitten by a rabid bat seems to be an American fear rather than a UK / European fear, and it appeared on this forum after the members of Anxiety Zone...which had mostly American members...shut down and the majority moved over to NMP.

But apparently in some parts of the US there's still a risk, if that's correct? Hence the fear I guess.

Cath ☺

When you have an irrtional HA there is no limit to what imaginary nightmare scenario you can think up; regardless of where you are. There are plenty of rabies threads from Europe here; and there was even one who thought that brain eating amoebas were living in swimming pools in Denmark.

---------- Post added at 09:50 ---------- Previous post was at 09:47 ----------


Probably because rabies is a terrifying illness that people have feared for millenia. There is tons of documentation of the fear of dog bites. Emily bronte seared herself with a hot poker after getting bitten by a dog. Until fairly recentlt , like the 70s when dog vaccines got good, rabies cases were higher in the US. So , historical fear doesn't just evaporate. It passes through generations, in stories and zeitgeist. Plus, newer trends in rabies are pretty sensational bc they are mosrlt cryptic and can't be traced to a known bite or exposure.

By the early 20th century or so, there was a belef that rabies could actually be cured by steam bath. But that was probably due to hypocondriacs misdiagnosing themself and that the fear; and symptoms disappeared after a session in the steam bath. But some docto; or quack; who claimed himself to have had rabies and cured himself with it cashed in a lot of bucks with this "cure".

---------- Post added at 09:51 ---------- Previous post was at 09:50 ----------


My Dad and his siblings were often bitten by all types of animals that could carry rabies he was a child (he worked on a farm all his life). They would be out working until late, they would all get bitten when they worked on certain crops. They were exposed to a lot of stuff. None of them ever got seriously sick! My Dad is heading for his 70's and all his siblings are perfect as well.

None of them ever got really sick, I think my Dad's twin got a local bacterial infection on the part of the arm he was bitten once? They are all still doing well! Medicine has moved forward and lot since he was young!

But there is no rabies in Ireland, is it?

---------- Post added at 09:55 ---------- Previous post was at 09:51 ----------




I am actually surprised, as you seem to be too, by how many people get bent out of shape about rabies threads. Given a centuries or millenias old fascination and mythology about rabies, it would be weird for people now (especially people on a site bc they have anxiety and OCD) to NOT have any concern or fear for rabies at all, especially considering it is endemic in wildlife in the United States (some areas have more of it than others, but nationalism means we don't always think about regions so Americans have general fear when they hear about a US case. Florida and California have a crazy number of wildlife cases, though!) This board brings people from different countries together, esp after AZ bit the dust, so Americans are going to voice concerns that might not apply so much in Europe. And that is just going to have to be okay, lol!!

Endemic? Far as I know there are 2 - TWO - unfornate cases of rabies in the US each year; in a population of 300 million+ people. And is it really "endemic" among the wildlife population all across the nation? Really?

NervUs
27-08-18, 14:43
Endemic? Far as I know there are 2 - TWO - unfornate cases of rabies in the US each year; in a population of 300 million+ people. And is it really "endemic" among the wildlife population all across the nation? Really?


It is endemic in raccoons on the east coast of the US. That is not my word but epidemiologists saying it. I believe it is endemic in skunks in the west.

The two unfortunate cases in the US are bc people take vaccines. If you are bitten by a wild animal, it would be pretty stupid to throw up your hands and say " only 2 cases!" I get that the problem is the grey areas and hypochondriacs run with the littlest provocation. That doesn't mean it is dumb to have rabies cross your mind if you come into contact with an animal's saliva in the US. As long as that continues to happen, there will be rabies threads.

lofwyr
27-08-18, 15:57
Even with all the cases floating around, it is so, SOOO rare. And furthermore, the method of exposure makes it even more difficult to contract. Sure, if rabies were an airborne pathogen, it would be terrible. But it requires the entering of saliva through the recipient's blood stream.

All that said, I have people in my life who had genuine rabies exposures. My daughter at summer camp, they had a bat in their cabin, the bat died in the night, and because of that, the camp, who was really just being extra careful, paid for all of their rabies vaccinations.

I have another friend whose cats, very helpfully I might add, killed a bat in his house while he slept and put the bat's head in his face in the middle of the night. Also, a very obvious risk exposure. He also got the shots. Incidentally, we was actually attacked the other day by a bat during the daylight hours, the bat flew at him repeatedly in the parking lot, and was obviously disturbed. But not having HA, and knowing he did not get his skin broken in any way, he avoided the bat as best he could and drove away.

I think a huge part of the problem is folks with HA tend to always *know* that they are the exception to the rule. It doesn't matter if you have a one in 100 million or higher chance of contracting the disease. And it is also the deadliness of the disease too. No one survives rabies, so that is a huge trigger for some people.

No one (well, few people) on this board fears a common cold. But the ability, in one's mind, to change that cold in leukemia or NHL etc, is the sign of a very active imagination that focuses on worst case scenarios. I think rabies is a penultimate worst case scenario.

It also reminds me that for some people I think news stories and current events are even more detrimental than googling symptoms. A 24 hours news cycle paints a portrait of doom and gloom, and rare medical problems are near the top of the stories they like to fill with.

MagpieWitch
28-08-18, 19:59
So you know my rabies story, most do. Long story short, someone left kittens in cat lover neighbor yard, they adopted them, I played with them, one scratched me, 6 weeks later I fear rabies due to low grade fever without an obvious cause I've had for a week now.

Now today my father tells me that despite my fear of the cats, all the kids from my street are playing with them daily. And today my brother (he is 8, I am 22) and his friends decided to bathe the kittens and the kittens got scared and scratched them all over. No one seems concerned. Not the parents nor my father (who is a doctor and surgeon).

Should I worry for my little brother? Should I worry for myself? I mean I haven't seen the kittens up close in a while, but I am sure that I saw the same kittens 20 days after my incident and they are still the same so maybe those are just kittens and they don't have rabies that will kill me?

Scass
28-08-18, 20:22
No you shouldn’t worry.

I just read your very rational responses to someone else’s rabies fear. If only you could use that kind of problem solving on your own fear. I know it’s hard, but it might help.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

hazelbritt
28-08-18, 20:23
No you shouldn’t worry.

I just read your very rational responses to someone else’s rabies fear. If only you could use that kind of problem solving on your own fear. I know it’s hard, but it might help.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

This! 100%

nomorepanic
28-08-18, 20:58
Hi

This is just a courtesy reply to let you know that your thread was merged with another of your threads.

Please when posting on similar topics add it onto your previous post rather than starting a new one.

It is nothing personal it is just to make it easier for people to follow your story and to give you advice as a whole.

MagpieWitch
28-08-18, 21:36
Thank you for the thread merge!
I am just very scared I can't explain it. I keep thinking what if the kitten just had rabies but it's like just carrying it and not actually sick (like some HIV carriers) and other stuff that hasn't yet been documented.
And people keep telling me the 10 day rule, the fact that it was a scratch and not a bite, the other kittens that live with it are all fine and well still and kids play with the kitten daily.
I am just afraid.
I just keep imagining the worst scenario and how I will be dying and I keep checking if I can still swallow (and drinking ungodly amounts of cold water) and I just need to lay it off and stop :( I hate feeling like this

NervUs
28-08-18, 22:29
Thank you for the thread merge!
I am just very scared I can't explain it. I keep thinking what if the kitten just had rabies but it's like just carrying it and not actually sick (like some HIV carriers) and other stuff that hasn't yet been documented.
And people keep telling me the 10 day rule, the fact that it was a scratch and not a bite, the other kittens that live with it are all fine and well still and kids play with the kitten daily.
I am just afraid.
I just keep imagining the worst scenario and how I will be dying and I keep checking if I can still swallow (and drinking ungodly amounts of cold water) and I just need to lay it off and stop :( I hate feeling like this

It is on you at this point. Doing swallow tests all day is doing nothing but reinforcing to your brain that this is a legitimate threat, when it is anything but.

Fight back against the thoughts and certainly don't test if you can swallow. Just no!

Fishmanpa
06-09-18, 05:04
I did a search here on "rabies" and the number of posts is mind boggling! I don't recall such a solid run of rabies threads in my time on the boards.

Anyway... in light of the number of rabies threads currently running, I thought it would be interesting to bump this and discuss it. I'm curious as to the mindset and internal conversation that's going on. What is the reasoning in light of indisputable facts that still allows this fear to persist?

Positive thoughts

MagpieWitch
06-09-18, 11:13
I had a rabies fear in the past two weeks (I since moved to brain eating amoeba but rabies might make a comeback) and my therapist told me that much to my surprise, in a small country like mine 4 of her other patients even without history of HA have rabies fear.

She believes it's tied with: uncertain symptoms, easy to imagine scenarios, loss of control and a certain death - these things check all the HA worst boxes and this fear is especially stronger with people with OCD or catastrophic thoughts/scenarios. I mean most of us here could write good horror movies or at least scary news articles.

ErinKC
06-09-18, 14:26
I think health anxiety searches for the most unlikely scenarios because they are difficult to diagnose, more likely to be ignored by health care professionals (since they are almost certainly not what you have), and they can produce symptoms that are very common among anxiety sufferers (aches and pains, headaches, numbness, tingling, etc...) Anxiety is like a parasite, always looking for a host. So, naturally, it will find the most succulent thing to sink its teeth into. More simple and easily diagnoses and cured illnesses are useless to the anxiety parasite.

paranoid-viking
06-09-18, 16:38
I did a search here on "rabies" and the number of posts is mind boggling! I don't recall such a solid run of rabies threads in my time on the boards.

Anyway... in light of the number of rabies threads currently running, I thought it would be interesting to bump this and discuss it. I'm curious as to the mindset and internal conversation that's going on. What is the reasoning in light of indisputable facts that still allows this fear to persist?

Positive thoughts

There are three active threads here TODAY as we speak; none of them based on any scientific reality.

Fishmanpa
06-09-18, 17:35
There are three active threads here TODAY as we speak; none of them based on any scientific reality.

I know. That's why I bumped this thread. I'm just curious how the dots are connected when there's no reality involved. It's like 2+2=36. Or maybe that's the answer. Anxiety skews reality until one cannot see reality :shrug:

I see that Rabies was given it's own sub-forum. Good move admin! Good move indeed!

Positive thoughts

AntsyVee
07-09-18, 04:48
Many fears are not rational.

I this one just particularly annoys me because 1) the people suffering from it clearly can’t see that this is just another form of OCD and 2) many animals get blamed for nothing. As an animal lover and rescuer, we don’t need any extra negative and incorrect information to be out there that keep people from adopting strays. There are too many good animals without homes.