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I've been learning some about rabies and learned about rabies causing hydrophobia. This is just a theory, I'm not saying I know anything about this topic to be knowledgeable, but if we could get someone with rabies to not fear water, could they survive?

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[-] count_of_monte_carlo@lemmy.world 36 points 8 months ago

The Milwaukee Protocol is a treatment plan that is essentially a more advanced version of what you’re asking. The patient is put in a medically induced coma and then given antivirals and IV fluids, which avoids the issue of hydrophobia.

It got a lot of press because one person survived on it (a big deal given that rabies is a death sentence once symptoms appear) but this success hasn’t been reproduced with other patients. A paper on the protocol has a remarkably blunt title: Critical Appraisal of the Milwaukee Protocol for Rabies: This Failed Approach Should Be Abandoned.

[-] A_Random_Idiot@lemmy.world 15 points 8 months ago

and didnt they use it on that girl that survived cause she didnt report the bite until it was too late, so it was either try something dangerously crazy like Mulwaukee Protocol, or just die miserably?

[-] rudyharrelson@kbin.social 17 points 8 months ago

I guess whether this protocol should be abandoned, rather than iterated on to improve its chances of success, to me, depends on the effect the coma has on the patient's quality of life while the protocol is attempted. It's arguably more humane to put someone in a medically induced coma while they're still sane. If the protocol fails, the patient is at least not conscious while their brain is deteriorating.

I'm gonna go watch House.

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this post was submitted on 10 Mar 2024
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