http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmp...=8&u=/nm/20050
103/od_nm/health_rabies_dc
CHICAGO (Reuters) - A 15-year-old Wisconsin girl who received an
experimental treatment to become the first person known to survive rabies
without a vaccination has been released from hospital, a spokeswoman for the
hospital said on Sunday.
Jeanna Giese of Fond du Lac, Wisconsin, was released on Saturday from
Children's Hospital of Wisconsin in Milwaukee, where she had been treated
for the disease since mid-October.
The deadly virus, which attacks the nervous system and is usually
transmitted through an animal bite, can be prevented with a vaccine if
treated immediately.
But the teenager, who contracted the virus from an infected bat on Sept. 12,
did not seek medical care until symptoms appeared and it was too late for
the vaccine.
Doctors at Children's Hospital devised a new treatment that involved
inducing a coma to allow Giese's body to better fight the infection, and
administering a cocktail of drugs, Children's Hospital spokeswoman Jackie
Gauger said.
The hospital said in a statement on its Web site (http://www.chw.org) that
Giese was "...the first person in the world to survive the disease without
receiving a vaccination after infection."
The girl, who regained weight, strength and coordination in recent weeks and
will continue to receive therapy at home, is expected to make a near-full
recovery, the statement said.
"She is progressing very well, better than they had even expected," Gauger
said.
The new treatment shows promise for use in developing nations where rabies
infection is more common than in the United States, and could be used for
other illnesses that affect the nervous system, the Web site statement said.
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