She was the only survivor of rabies. How it’s possible?

In September 2004, a bat fell into St. Patrick’s Church in Wisconsin. One of the mass attendees decided to “pacify” him with a hat. The teenager who picked up the bat from the ground was bitten on the index finger of her left hand. A month later she went to Dr. Rodney Willoughby with diagnosed rabies. In practice, this meant a sentence. Due to the dramatic situation, the parents had no choice but to accept experimental therapy.

1. Jeanna Giese is the only survivor of rabies without being vaccinated
2. The 15-year-old was saved by the controversial method of Dr. Willoughby, which has never been used before
3. Annually, about 55 die from rabies in the world. people
4. You can find more such stories on the TvoiLokony home page

15-year-old Jeanna Giese loved animals since she was a child. She couldn’t helplessly watch the bat die on the cool tiles of the church, so she decided to take it out of the building. When she picked him up from the ground, he “repaid” him with a bite on his index finger. The teenager only doused the wound with hydrogen peroxide. She and her family concluded that this did not require the intervention of doctors. They found out about their mistake 37 days later.

Jeanna was hospitalized in a critical condition, with 39-degree fever, double vision, speech impairment and left hand spasms.

Doctors tried various therapies, but the girl’s body did not respond to the medications administered. Then the teen’s mother mentioned an incident from a month ago, when a bat bit Jeanna’s finger. After laboratory tests, there was no longer any doubt that Jeanna had contracted rabies – a disease that no unvaccinated person had ever survived before.

1. Also read: Rabies in humans and animals. What are the symptoms and what is the treatment like?

The rest of the text below the video.

Dr. Willoughby to the rescue

The risky, previously unused experimental therapy of Dr. Willoughby’s Rodney was the only light in the tunnel. A method called the Milwaukee protocol it consists in putting the patient into a pharmacological coma to give the body a chance to produce the appropriate antibodies. Desperate parents had no choice but to take the risk and trust the doctor.

The girl woke up two weeks later, when the doctors noticed the first signs of improvement. After 30 days in hospital, they found the teenager was free from rabies, but were concerned that the infection had caused changes in the brain that they would not be able to reverse.

1. See also: Rabies – one of the most dangerous diseases. It kills almost 100 percent. How to protect yourself?

Happy end

Initially free from Jeann’s virus, she was unable to walk, talk or eat, but after rehabilitation lasting several weeks, she returned to physical and mental fitness. Already in January 2005, she continued her education at the school and graduated with her peers in 2007. In 2011, she obtained a degree in biology from Lakeland College. She got married, gave birth to three children and now participates in many discussion panels in which she builds awareness about rabies.

In 2021, the NBC station recalled the woman, which created a short material about Jeanny’s story – There were many moments when I wanted to give up and stop trying. Now I do not know what will happen in the next 10 or 15 years, but I am excited to find out – she said in an interview with an American television station.

As it turned out later, Jeanna, with her luck, was a bit lucky – the bat probably infected her an extremely mild type of rabies, due to which the method of dr. Willoughby had a chance to work. The site of the bite was also important – the hand is far from the brain and the immune system has had time to start fighting the virus.

25 other people who tried to heal in the same way were not so lucky. Other cases of recovery reported by the doctor were not documented well enough to be considered confirmed. The protocol was considered ineffective in the treatment of rabies.

1. Check: Why are zoonotic viruses dangerous to humans? Scientists explain

Jeanny’s case remains the only confirmed and medically recognized rabies case in an unvaccinated person.

Rabies can be prevented by vaccinationif patients receive them before the onset of symptoms such as hallucinations, muscle spasms, paralysis and hydrophobia.

The Neurologic Clinics magazine reports that around 55 people, mainly in Asia and Africa, die each year from rabies because of a misdiagnosis or because the disease is diagnosed too late.