Yes ...it is found in saliva and spread via bites
'Slogger
The more I learn ...the more I realize I don't know.
Excellent question. Most mammalian viruses need the heat, dark, moist, nutritious environment that the animal's insides provides, rabies included. I doubt that a hiker drinking downstream from a rabid animal could possibly contract rabies (other viral diseases be different): or rather, the virus could not survive long outside the body. The virus would be able to live in the dead host (racoon) for quite a while, hence it be very dangerous to play with dead animals, as was previously posted.Originally Posted by NICKTHEGREEK
I hope that Sleevleless is feeling better...heard she is doing well from a few THer's a few days ago. I thought of her as we passed a trail somewhere in PA called "Racoon Trail" which we all know she did NOT take ;-)
ad astra per aspera
I hope that Sleevleless is feeling better...heard she is doing well from a few THer's a few days ago. I thought of her as we passed a trail somewhere in PA called "Racoon Trail" which we all know she did NOT take ;-)
She told me the story and was as stated...sittinging in dark at shelter, doing mail, and just jumped on her, the rest is told well in the trail journal...
ad astra per aspera
Petting or feeding we can avoid, but getting jumped on, unprovoked... bad luck there. Could've happened to anyone.
Maybe she will discover the sport of coon hunting... chasing howling dogs into the night. Pretty much the blind leading the blind.
How many more of our soldiers must die in Iraq?
I thought Opossums were Marsupial and did not carry Rabies.
not immune
Oppossums are more resistant to rabies but not immune. Plus they're feisty, ugly buggers when cornered.
I would rather sit on a pumpkin and have it all to myself, than be crowded on a velvet cushion.
~Thoreau
I'd have to body slam the critter!!! Then I'd yell at him for trying to use my pocketmail.
Opposums are marsupial, but they're still mammals. They can carry rabies.
I haven't been able to find any specific references to transmission via water; however, the CDC website says that mere contact with blood from an infected animal will not cause infection, so I've got to figure water won't do it either. Also, the virus usually does not appear in the saliva until the disease has entered the fatal stage, and normally hydrophobia would have kicked in by then.
Let's put it this way; if you see a crazy looking mammal drinking from a spring, it can't hurt to avoid drinking from the same spring. However, I wouldn't worry about getting it from miles upstream.
Two other interesting notes:
1.) Modern vaccines are much less painful then they used to be and can usually be administered in the arm like other inoculations.
2.) There is strong evidence that Edgar Allan Poe may have died from rabies. He had many of the classic symptoms, and he was known to enjoy playing with stray cats.
David Perry
79.1 down, 2,101.9 to go.
I saw a racoon on a tree beside the trail when I was running Monday morning. It made me think of this thread. Luckily I escaped without injury.
Doug
Ouch! I hope she's doing okay now!
I got mauled two years ago by a feral cat that someone dropped of (ever so nicely) at the animal shelter I was managing. It latched onto my hand and wrist and really inflicted a lot of injury. Had to have the rabies series (absolutely no fun) and lots of antibiotics.
I've had racoons hiss and try to be vicious when they want something but to have it just randomly attack her is bizzare.
I love animals of all shapes and sizes but I have decided that possums are THE stupidest animal I have ever met. We have a fenced in back yard in a fairly suburban neighborhood - we have a raised ranch with a big back deck. Last winter my husband and I were going out to dinner and let the boxer out for a quick bio break we left - after an abnormally long time we hear her ripping around the back yard - we go to investigate - she's got about a 15lb possum in her mouth. We told her to "leave it" and she dropped it - I really thought it was dead - there was a gash and there wasn't even shallow breathing. So we decided that we would deal with it in the morning and we overturned the wheelbarrow on it to keep the dog from messing with it. Next day - it's magically gone -no sign of it. This was middle of winter. Fast forward to Aprilish -our boxer was going nuts under the deck trying to get underneath that this pile of lumber my husband had stacked there. I'm thinking she lost her squeaky toy so I lift up a corner of hte plywood and she dives under - and lo and behold comes up with the SAME possum - and as the dog runs off shaking it baby possums are flying EVERYWHERE! 13 in all. We got mama away from the dog again - and collected all the babies in a bucket. I consulted a wildlife rehabber on what do do - we turned off the lights - mama eventually woke up and ran through a hole in the fence- we put the babies on the ground near the hole and in about 30mins she had come and got them all. But talk about dumb- I would have thought one brush with the boxer would have been enough.
~CynJ
"The reward of a thing well done is to have done it." - Ralph Waldo Emerson
I had two baby racoons as pets one time (they lost their mom, so I took them in). Other than losing all of my silverware and jewelry behind the couch, they were really sweet. It's obvious that there was something wrong with this one. Animals don't attack for no reason, wild or domestic. It must have been sick. It's good that there was someone around to help her. This makes me feel even better about bringing a tent! Rabies is "at near epidemic levels in parts of VA and MD"?!? Really? Has anyone heard of any other hikers having problems?
That's wild. I was between Gathland park and Harper's Ferry back in June and walking north along the ridge there. A Fox came out of the woods not 20 feet in front of me and didn't budge, then it turned and ran but not real fast away from me. I've seen a lot of foxes in my day and this one didn't seem "right". However, like a lot of things that don't negatively impact us I let the incident go. Now I read about a 'coon attack 15 miles north of there about the same time.
I'd say it's a message to be careful in the NOVA, MD area.
If you don't have something nice to say,
Be witty in your cruelty.
When my daughter was attacked by a rabid fox this past spring it was the first confirmed case of rabies in our county here in East Tennessee. (Her Dad shot the fox and it was confirmed to have racoon rabies.) Since then there have been several other cases. The authorities have started using special bait cubes to immunize animals. These are tossed into the woods around residential neighborhoods. Watch out for any animal that acts out of character.
I hope Sleeveless is over the ordeal.
Racoon
I recall getting a ride in Linden Va. to the general store from a local that was called Racoon. Very nice person, and family, let me sleep in on a wet windy night and drove me back to the trailhead the next day.
Sounds like an awful thing to happen to a hiker the bite and all, but you did well.
t
QUOTE=Deb]I read this is Socks' Trailjournals entry from June 26.
A hiker named Sleeveless was attacked by a raccoon at Pine Knob shelter near Harper's Ferry. She was sitting at a picnic table using pocketmail at the time. Hikers beat the raccoon off her; she was severely bitten on her back and legs.
She was helped out of the woods, went to a hospital and had her wounds treated. She has to reappear at the hospital for ongoing rabies shots, but in the meantime she's hiking on.
www.trailjournals.com/entry.cfm?id=106346[/QUOTE]
yup i ran across sleeveless at the tom leonard shelter in great bearrington mass. in august. she was doing fine just a little freaked out about it. she did have to go to different hospitals to get shots i believe. and she was traveling with lowjack............................it must be tuff to be famous
They Are Getting Bad In Snp
YEH I WAS DOING DAY HIKES IN SNP AND SAW A FEW COONS IN THE DAY AND THAT IS NOT GOOD AT ALL .I TOLD A RANGER WHEN I CAME BACK IN SOMETHING IS GOING ON WITH THE ANIMALS THIS YR THEY HAVE BEEN ACTING UNUSUAL THIS SUMMER.
TAMBOURINE:banana
To make it worse, I heard Ole Yeller got the hydrophobe.
If you don't have something nice to say,
Be witty in your cruelty.
Raccoon Attack
I just read through the thread on the raccoon attack. You can read about it in trailjournals.com in the search window type in sleeveless and go to the June 25 entry.
I had to keep my leg bandaged for a month and finally at the last doctor's suggestion that I get off it for a while so that it would heal I went home to NH from CT for 3.5 days and what a difference it made. When I came back I had 2 bandaids for a couple of days and it was completey healed then. The rabies shots were not painful but extremely inconvenient although I was not feeling well when I left Port Clinton after getting a shot that morning. I have some nasty scars on my leg and I am thankful that that is all I have.
After going to the hospital the night of the attack, I was hiking the next day and I will admit I was a little jumpy for a couple of weeks. Now it is one of the stories of the trail I have to tell. Thank you all for your concern and I can tell you there was no way to prevent the attack other than not being there.
For those of you that believe in esp or such, when Socks and I arrived at Pine knob shelter after hiking 21 or 22 miles that day, I had a very bad feeling that I expressed to her. She even jumped up in the shelter and said it's clean and I don't see anything that will bite us!! I also had the same erie feeling when I went up to the spring to filter water. I couldn't leave there fast enough.
I have to thank Socks, Old Graceful a section hiker and Ben (I have his last name written down at home) and his son who were tenting there for the weekend for all the help. Old Graceful carried his pack on his back and mine on the front of him as we walked 3/4 miles down a rocky trail in the dark to meet the ambulance that Ben had called. I had to have 6 shots in the hospital and then the rabies series at 3, 7, 14, and 28 days after the attack.
Somebody in the thread mentioned that they use their tent. Sock and I were going to tent but the spots were less than desirabe and there was already a tent in the god spot.
There were lots of nice and helpful people on the trail who helped me with bandages and rides to the hospitals. I guess that was all part of the trail experiece. I can only say that it did not ruin my hike, I was not about to let it. At 60 there are not going to be to many years left that I would have to go back and start it over. It was a fantastic journey so don't let this very unusual experience in any way stop you from heading out on the trail by your self as I did. Happy hiking to all.
Sleeveless
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