I got a small bite from a squirrel...?

Question

i have a squirel that i have fed by hand for the past 2 years. today i was feeding him and while he was eating from my hand, he took a little bite of my skin. little blood was drawn. everyone i am talking to is freeking me out about rabbies. i washed the bite immediately with peroxide and soap but i was wondering if i should be very concerned. any help,please advise me

Answer 1

YES, you need to worry, it only takes a bit of infected salvia for you to be infected and there are only 6 recorded cases of someone surviving rabies, in history!

You can get rabies from casual contact with a wild mammal or rodent who is infected.  People can get it from moving through bat infested caves and becoming exposed to the disease.

According to Wikipedia:  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rabies

"Rabies (from Latin: rabies, “madness, rage, fury.” Also known as “hydrophobia”) is a viral zoonotic neuroinvasive disease that causes acute encephalitis (inflammation of the brain) in mammals.

In non-vaccinated humans, rabies is almost invariably fatal after neurological symptoms have developed, but prompt post-exposure vaccination may prevent the virus from progressing. There are only six known cases of a person surviving symptomatic rabies, and only one known case of survival in which the patient received no rabies-specific treatment either before or after illness onset...

Any mammal may become infected with the rabies virus and develop symptoms, including humans. Most animals can be infected by the virus and can transmit the disease to humans. Infected bats, monkeys, raccoons, foxes, skunks, cattle, wolves, dogs or cats provide the greatest risk to humans. Rabies may also spread through exposure to infected domestic farm animals, groundhogs, weasels and other wild carnivores. Rodents (mice, squirrels etc) are seldom infected.

The virus is usually present in the nerves and saliva of a symptomatic rabid animal. The route of infection is usually, but not necessarily, by a bite."

This is why it is so reckless to play with wild animals.  The only way to know for sure if the squirrel has rabies is to remove its brain and check for the disease in tissue slices.  You can't be sure.

You may have rabies right now!  Waiting for the symptoms to appear is too late.

The Wikipedia article continues:

"On June 17, 1981 she was bitten on the ankle by a dog in New Delhi. On August 18, about two months later, she experienced the first prodromal symptoms. She became anxious and depressed, and it became impossible for her to drink more than small sips of liquid. While sleeping, she frequently sat up in bed suddenly, terrified. On August 19, she became confused, hallucinated, and was incontinent of urine. On August 20, she was unable to eat or drink and was taken to the hospital where she hallucinated and screamed in terror."

The disease is hydrophobia because the infected people can only drink a little and eventually no water.  The disease lives in the brain an an infection will cause maddness then death.

"Rabies can be prevented by vaccination, both in humans and other animals. Virtually every infection with rabies resulted in death, until Louis Pasteur and Emile Roux developed the first rabies vaccination in 1885. This vaccine was first used on a human on July 6, 1885 – nine-year old boy Joseph Meister (1876–1940) had been mauled by a rabid dog....

Treatment after exposure, known as post-exposure prophylaxis or “P.E.P.”, is highly successful preventing the disease if administered promptly, within six days after infection and consists of over a 28 day period. Thoroughly washing the wound as soon as possible with soap and water for approximately five minutes is very effective at reducing the number of viral particles. “If available, a virucidal antiseptic such as povidone-iodine, iodine tincture, aqueous iodine solution or alcohol (ethanol) should be applied after washing.”[9] Exposed mucous membranes such as eyes, nose or mouth should be flushed well with water. In the United States, patients receive one dose of immunoglobulin and five doses of rabies vaccine over a twenty-eight day period. One-half the dose of immunoglobulin is injected in the region of the bite, if possible, with the remainder injected intramuscularly away from the bite. This is much less painful compared with administering immunoglobulin through the abdominal wall with a large needle, as was done in the past."

You washed the area, but you didn't sterilize it, you didn't use an antivirual treatment like iodine so you may not have killed the infection.  It is too much to risk to take any chances; you need to tell your parents right away.  You have a 6 day (or so) grace period before you need to receive treament and you need to start it soon.

SERIOUS!, let's put it this way I am going to check back on your profile to see if there is any activity or an obituary notice for your death.  IT IS DEADLY SERIOUS.

Answer 2

Squirrels are known for carrying rabies.  You need to catch the squirrel  and take it to the health department IFyou can do this safely.  I wouldn't advise picking him up at any rate, but if you can catch him with a towel and get him in a cage and take him, this would be good.  They can keep him and make sure he doesn't show any signs of having rabies and, if he does, he'll have to be put down and you'll have to have the shots (which aren't as painful as they were in the past, or so I am told.)  My brother got bit by a squirrel when he was in high school and this is what we had to do.  He got lucky, the squirrel did NOT have rabies.

Good luck.

Answer 3

Contact a medical professional immediately!  Rabies is a serious concern, as are a number of other infections that wild animals carry.  You should contact a doctor anytime you receive a serious bite that breaks the skin, including from domesticated dogs and cats and humans.  Mouths are dirty places.

You should also contact the parks department, animal control or the city or any other appropriate government body that might be interested to know about an animal bite in its jurisdiction.  

Answer 4

Yes get medical attention.  No do not try to catch the squirrel yourself.  You doctor will notify the health department who will see to it the the squirrel is captured and tested.

Answer 5

I myself wouldn't worry. Rabbies doesn't exist in the UK if thats where you are from, but just see how you feel and if you start to feel like ****, I mean naturally **** not anxiously **** then see your doctor.

I reckon you'll be ok, but they say its better to be safe than sorry!

Answer 6

1.  The animal was eating.  Animals in the infective stage of rabies neither eat or drink.

2.  Is the animal a pet?  If so, where could it have been exposed to a rabid animal?

3.  Rodents and lagamorphs account for just 0.6% of all rabies exposures.  

Wild Animals

Wild animals accounted for 92% of reported cases of rabies in 2006. Raccoons continued to be the most frequently reported rabid wildlife species (37.7% of all animal cases during 2006), followed by bats (24.4%), skunks (21.5%), foxes (6.2%), and other wild animals, including rodents and lagomorphs (0.6%). Reported cases increased among all wild animals during 2006.

Outbreaks of rabies infections in terrestrial mammals like raccoons, skunks, foxes, and coyotes are found in broad geographic regions across the United States. Geographic boundaries of currently recognized reservoirs for rabies in terrestrial mammals are shown on the map below.

While it is possible to contract rabies from a squirrel, the situation that you describe is highly unlikely to have resulted in actual exposure to the disease.

Answer 7

yes call the doctor. if your infected by rabies you can die!!!