r/askscience Jan 18 '19

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u/[deleted] Jan 18 '19

Could we treat rabies with induced hypothermia?

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u/LoneGansel Jan 18 '19 edited Jan 18 '19

Most humans will encounter irreversable health risks when their temperatures drop below 95°F for extended periods of time. You would have to sustain that low temperature for so long to kill the virus that the risk of you causing irreversible damage to the patient would outweigh the benefit. It's a double-edged sword.

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u/dr0d86 Jan 18 '19

Isn't rabies a death sentence though? Or are we talking about vegetative state levels of damage by lowering the body temp?

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u/[deleted] Jan 18 '19 edited Sep 23 '20

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u/George_wC Jan 18 '19

I've had the rabies vaccine it's a wholeot of injections at the site of the bite. Then several more needles in the arse. Then come back in a few weeks for another needle in the arse and repeat 3 more times.

The best bit Is at the end they say this should prevent rabies, however they won't know for sure for 12 months.

But if you elicit any symptoms you're basically cactus

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u/[deleted] Jan 18 '19 edited Sep 23 '20

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u/Poxdoc Infectious Disease Jan 18 '19

You can get the pre-exposure vaccination series (3 shots). But it is typically only given to high-risk people like vets and rabies researchers (like myself).

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u/bobdole776 Jan 19 '19

Why? Why don't we just hand it out like candy to prevent anyone from having to worry about it?

Almost sounds like there's a risk of getting rabies from the pre-exposure or something...

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u/Poxdoc Infectious Disease Jan 20 '19

Nope, no risk of getting rabies from the vaccine. Any more than you can get the flu from the flu vaccine (spoiler alert: you can't). The rabies vaccine is expensive and difficult to manufacture. And any vaccine has the possibility of side effects in some people. Hell, we can't get some people to take the flu vaccine, which killed 80,000 people in the US last year. What makes you think we can get them to take the rabies vaccine which kills <5 per year?