950 girl scouts & rabies shots in VA.

[Pacific Tortuga]

In the Virginia camp of Potomic Woods due to the remote possibility of infected bats 950 Girl Scouts are "urged to start rabie shots". Some of the shelters might have bats that carry rabies. Due to the fact it is a viral disease and once symptoms appear cannot be stopped authorities will error on the side of caution. 6 to 9 shots are needed and will be paid for by the Girl Scouts at about 2,000 $ per child. (Yahoo News)
Has anyone ever heard of getting rabies from bats on the AT ?, skunks, racoons and the occasional L. Wolf maybe, just something else for others to worry about while on the Trail.

[StarLyte]

WHAT stimulation...... implemented by their marketing department for cookie sales.

IMO

:D

....OTOH.....
does anyone know these girl scouts?

[hikerjohnd]

Has anyone ever heard of getting rabies from bats on the AT ?, skunks, racoons and the occasional L. Wolf maybe, just something else for others to worry about while on the Trail.

Don't know about bats on the AT, but here bat bites (although very rare) require rabies shots just in case. I remember when I was growing up several people being bitten and contracting rabies so legislation was soon passed. Better safe than sorry - at least the girls do not have to foot the bill (but I bet cookie prices skyrocket!)

[orangebug]

Bats are a very common vector for rabies. I don't know the specifics of this exposure, but suspect the GSA is doing a good job educating and intervening on this risk. While rabies is rare in humans, it is probably the absolutely worst way to die.

[gsingjane]

As with many things you read on the internet, there is probably more to this story than the first post would imply. Rabies shots are painful, expensive, and can have serious side effects, and I would be very surprised if they were mandated or recommended on a precautionary or prophylactic basis. Moreover, using the numbers in the post, the cost of administering the series to this number of children would run to $1.9 million, which (take my word for it) would likely exceed that Girl Scout council's entire budget for the year.

If you'd like to provide a link to the story, I'd be interested to read it. But until then, I'd need to reserve judgment.

Jane in CT

p.s. In GOOD Girl Scout-related news, all Girl Scout cookies will be trans-fat free in the next selling season!

[The Old Fhart]

As of today (8-6-06) you could click on http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/ap/nation/4097691.html to read the AP story about the Girl Scouts and bats. The original post is pretty much correct but note the details [emphasis mine]. The story says:

"The Loudoun health department sent letters to the parents of about 950 girls who attended the camp through July 22. Most of those contacted have declined to get the vaccine.

Health officials recommended that 16 girls begin receiving a monthlong series of shots. They include the children authorities believe were most likely to have come in contact with a bat.

The vaccine consists of six to nine shots, which can cost up to $2,000. The Girl Scouts organization is covering the cost of the shots."

[hikerjohnd]

Rabies shots are painful, expensive, and can have serious side effects, ...

Rabies shots have come a long way and are no longer the painful shots in the abdomen they once were. A series of 5 injections (I believe gven over the course of a few days - but not 100% sure on that timeline) has replaced the scary treatment regeiment most of us know of from childhood horror stories. Still, I would not want to have to undergo the process - thanks but I will limit my needle exposure to giving blood.


p.s. In GOOD Girl Scout-related news, all Girl Scout cookies will be trans-fat free in the next selling season!

What exactly will be the point of the cookies then???

[Frolicking Dinosaurs]

Source: http://vaccineinformation.org/rabies/qandavax.asp

What does the postexposure treatment include?
An exposed person who has never received any rabies vaccine will first receive a dose of rabies immune globulin (a blood product that contains antibodies against rabies), which gives immediate, short-term protection. This shot should be given in or near the wound area.
The postexposure treatment also includes five doses of rabies vaccine. The first dose should be given as soon as possible after the exposure. Additional doses should be given on days three, seven, 14, and 28 after the first shot. These shots should be given in the deltoid muscle of the arm. Children can also receive the shots in the muscle of the thigh. Properly administered postexposure treatment for rabies has never been known to fail.The article says health officials strongly recommended 16 girls receive the vaccine because they were know to have been bitten by unknown source or were part of a group that had captured & handled one of the bats. The GS offered the shots to all 950 girls.

Fear not, hikerjohnd. The cookies are being made with flavored canola oil instead of hydrogenated oil (shortening or lard). They will still be as rich and fattening as ever.

[gsingjane]

Hiker John, I am assuming this last comment was tongue in cheek, or at least tongue in mouth... but seriously, you'd be surprised how often this came up as an issue last year. There was even an editorial in the New York Times, and additional negative coverage, about the cookies having trans-fats. It had some very mild and non-provocative title like, "Girl Scouts Peddling Poison."

The interesting point about the cookies is that ... just as with fast food restaurant items, what people say they want and what they actually eat turn out to be two entirely different things. With all the concern about fat in the diet, Lemon Coolers, the only low-fat or diet cookie, is a perennial loser. They keep it on the cookie menu just so they can offer some low-fat something, but it's a dud. It's unusual for a troop even to sell as many as a case (12 boxes) and that would be with an order of well over 1000 boxes.

Jane in CT

[Gray Blazer]

Girl scout cookies...Yuuuuummmmmm.....Doh!
Seriously, I've hears of bats in some of the shelters, could this be an issue for hikers that stay in shelters? Personnally, this would be another reason for me to stay in a tent.

[Amigi'sLastStand]

The 16 Girl Scouts who were bitten by an "unknown source", were they anywhere near any Boy Scouts? The rabies vaccine may not be the shot they need.:D

[hikerjohnd]

Hiker John, I am assuming this last comment was tongue in cheek, or at least tongue in mouth... but seriously, you'd be surprised how often this came up as an issue last year. There was even an editorial in the New York Times, and additional negative coverage, about the cookies having trans-fats. It had some very mild and non-provocative title like, "Girl Scouts Peddling Poison."
Whoa - I certainly was being funny (well I thought I was anyway...) I have never heard anything negative about the cookies - and I have always assumed people understood they were cookies - not health food. I still have a standing order for one case of DoSiDo's - and dole out one box a month until I can get my next fix. Speaking of which - August's box is calling from the freezer and I must heed the call of the cookies!

[Lone Wolf]

Somebody is makin money off Girl Scout cookies but it ain't the scouts. 10 cookies for $4? Jesus H. Christ! What does the H stand for anyway?

[teachergal]

This story is local news here as it took place about 20 miles from my house...it's all over the local channels.....here's the article from NBC4's website (the black square is an ad that was in the middle of the story on the webpage - I can't gt rid of it)


LEESBURG, Va. -- Loudoun County officials have notified the parents of nearly 1,000 girls in the Washington region that the youngsters may have been exposed to the rabies virus at a Girl Scout camp, the Washington Post reported Sunday.

The officials told parents they should consider getting a month-long series of protective vaccinations -- the largest proactive rabies outreach effort ever conducted in the United States, federal authorities told the Post.
There is a small chance that any of the girls has been infected with rabies from bats, found sharing the girls' sleeping shelters at Camp Potomac Woods near Leesburg, officials told the Post. All five bats tested so far were negative for the disease.
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About 1 percent of bats carries rabies and can bite children in their sleep without waking them. The disease, once symptoms appear, is incurable.
So authorities have urged parents to question their children about whether the shelters they slept in were among those inhabited by bats, and what kind of contact they might have had, the Post reported.
At least 14 girls have begun the series of shots, local officials said, including all of the children so far notified who were deemed most likely to have had contact with a bat.
But the parents of about 400 children, including a handful of girls who officials believe slept in shelters with bats, have not responded to initial outreach efforts and are slated for aggressive telephone queries this week.
"We think the risk is extremely small, but we can't say there is no risk," said Loudoun County Health Department Director David Goodfriend.
Goodfriend said that several young Americans in the past decade, including a 10-year-old boy from Mississippi last year and a Texas teenager in May, died of rabies after exposure to bats without being aware they had been scratched or bitten.
The rabies vaccination regimen is simpler and less painful than it used to be, consisting of six to nine shots given over a month, but the decision is still agonizing for many parents, the Post noted.
Still, officials said, a child may suffer trauma from the regimen, and the cost can range to $2,000 (in the Loudoun case, all costs are being covered by the Girl Scouts). There is also a risk of mostly minor complications from the vaccine.
If a child has been infected, officials said, the virus may quietly invade a victim's nerves for weeks or even months, eventually reaching the brain, where it suddenly causes swelling, coma and death.
In another rabies scare last week, officials began contacting about 440 children and adults in 13 states who recently attended a church camp in Ohio. They had slept in a converted movie theater that turned out to be full of bats.

Copyright 2006 by nbc4.com ([email protected]). All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

[StarLyte]

Somebody is makin money off Girl Scout cookies but it ain't the scouts. 10 cookies for $4? Jesus H. Christ! What does the H stand for anyway?

The H stands for hedonist.

[teachergal]

Was where they stated that you can get bit or scratch by a bat and not even know it!!!!!!!! Esp the line at the bottom of the news article about the people sleeping in an abandoned movie theater that was infested with bats!!!!!!

I guess it's not as big of a problem as this article would imply since I would guess that AT shelters could be popular with the bats and since there have not be major reports of thru hikers dieing of rabies....

[wilconow]

anyone else besides me live in loudoun county?

[Dances with Mice]

Jesus H. Christ! What does the H stand for anyway?Harold, obviously. Remember "Hark the Harold angels sing..." and "Our Father who art in Heaven, Harold be thy name..."?

Or "Haploid". Because without Joseph's contribution he couldn't be a Diploid. That's a biologist joke, a profession whose jokes usually involve cadavers.

That's all I have to say about that...

Back in the bad old days rabies shots were a painful series of injections in the abdomen or something like that. Is that still the case? What do these girls face?

[teachergal]

I'm in Prince William County and I teach in Fairfax County....

[TIDE-HSV]

not pleasant to think about, but there is some evidence for aerosol spread of the virus. In particular, one girl died from rabies who had had a rabid bat killed in her bedroom. She had been gone over from head to toe for evidence of a bite and none was found. In an experiment, caged rabid animals were placed in Carlsbad Caverns, in a remote area, and cages of healthy animals were placed nearby. The well animals came down with rabies. I'm assuming that they must have "bat-proofed" the cages. It's been several years since I read the account, so that's about all the detail I can recall. It could, however, be the reason the attempts to vaccinate seem to be so aggressive...

[TIDE-HSV]

on www.batmanagement.com/Batcentral/eviction/health.html
a comment on the aerosol transmission. It's in the second paragraph. I can't seem to get it to C&P.

[gsingjane]

Hiker, I wasn't slamming on you... SO sorry it came off that way. I was just making the point that the Girl Scouts have, in fact, been heavily criticized around the cookies, especially in the past year or so. To me it seems sort of selective, because heaven knows oodles of products have (or had) trans-fats in them, but believe me when I open up the newspaper to the title "Killer Girl Scouts" it catches my eye!

LW, I am sorry the cookies are so expensive. This is also not the first time I have heard this comment and I agree with you, they are (although if you've purchased Boy Scout popcorn lately, you'll find it pretty much at the same price point). The issue about the cookies is that their sales support not only the individual troops, but also council programs, including outreach to girls who cannot afford Scouting on their own. That also means... and this is of some interest to outdoorspeople, I would think... that cookies are one of the things that permit the councils to still own and operate camps and charge a reasonable fee to girls to attend, rather than succumbing to development pressure and selling off yet more outdoor space. Girl Scouts is also embarked on an extensive program to combine councils, so as to eliminate substantial duplication and extra costs involved in having too many council and associated staff. Here in my state, we are going from five councils to ONE. That will result in enormous overhead savings, I would think! Anyhow, believe me you are not the only one who wishes the cookies were cheaper. My girls have to go door-to-door every year, and it is very disappointing to them when it takes hours and hours just to sell a few boxes, because of the high price.

Jane in CT

[Lone Wolf]

I bitch about the price but I still buy them every year. And I don't even eat them.:)

[Gray Blazer]

Somebody is makin money off Girl Scout cookies but it ain't the scouts. 10 cookies for $4? Jesus H. Christ! What does the H stand for anyway?

Girl scouts, cookies and bats. There, maybe this post won't be deleted.
I don't know what the H stands for and I don't know what Jesus would drive (a camel, perhaps) I do know that cars have been mentioned in the Bible. God drove Adam and Eve out of the garden in his Fury....AND....Joshua blew his horn in his Triumph :rolleyes: .

[orangebug]

Girl Scout cookies got me married.

Expensive and very good little pastries!

[StarLyte]

Girl Scout cookies got me married.

Expensive and very good little pastries!

Hey OB - I'd marry ya too if you bought them for me AND I'd be impressed----they cost so much.
I wish this thread was inactive, it's going to make me have to buy some now.

[RockyTrail]

gsingjane, the cookies are great at any price!
I would buy them anyway just to see the smile on their faces!

As a volunteer with the Boy Scouts, my hat's off to you for helping these girls out through the Girl Scouts.

By the way I was in Savannah last week and just happened to bump into the Juliette Gordon Low house and took the tour...it's a fascinating story and well worth the visit if you are ever in Georgia...:sun

[sliderule]

anyone else besides me live in loudoun county?

Unless the other 263,035 Loudon County residents moved recently, you are not alone. Fear not; the bats should have plenty of targets to choose from.

[gsingjane]

Dear Rocky (and the other commenters), thanks for the good words and especially those loyal cookie purchases! Many Girl Scouts eventually do make a "pilgrimage" to Savannah - I've never done it, since my older troop is just starting seventh grade now and this is something you typically do in high school - but I hear it's wonderful and very inspiring. And thanks back at you re: BSA. My 14 yo just got back last weekend from Philmont and had the time of his life (55 lb. pack notwithstanding)...

Jane (suffering a post-election hangover) in CT

[wilconow]

Originally Posted by wilconow
anyone else besides me live in loudoun county?

Unless the other 263,035 Loudon County residents moved recently, you are not alone. Fear not; the bats should have plenty of targets to choose from.


:D guess there are no other WB'ers

[orangebug]

Hey OB - I'd marry ya too if you bought them for me AND I'd be impressed----they cost so much.
I wish this thread was inactive, it's going to make me have to buy some now.Nah, I just had to get married to make sure I have a consistent source for the cookies.

Once you buy a case of cookies from a little red haired girl and see her beam - and her mama beam - then you find yourself enjoying even more of life.

Back to the bats.

BTW, I've been to Julliete Low's house too, but she's never home.

[RockyTrail]

My 14 yo just got back last weekend from Philmont and had the time of his life (55 lb. pack notwithstanding)...

Jane (suffering a post-election hangover) in CT

Philmont! Wow, one of my favorite places, my son and I did a 70-mile trek there in '03 with his crew. I hate to tell you this, but get ready for at least 6 months or more of hearing about it! :D

[Gray Blazer]

Girl Scout cookies got me married.

Expensive

I guess that was expensive, but, worth it I hope.:rolleyes:
They had a show about the history of cookies on cable last night(History or TLC, I don't know) and as I was going to sleep they started talking about girl scout cookies. They started out as a recipe in 1912 and some time after that (1922?) the troops could get the recipe and make them and sell them. According to what I heard, it was a 600 million dollar business last year.
To help keep this on topic I will add that it makes me "batty" that they don't sell them year round.