It only took 4000 years of keeping records, but someone has developed symptomatic rabies, and lived through it, without being vaccinated.
Giese's harrowing journey began in a church. She scooped up a fallen bat and then released it outside. As she did, the bat bit her finger. Thinking it was a scratch, she simply washed out the tiny wound with hydrogen peroxide. A month later, her symptoms appeared. [Pediatrician Rodney E.] Willoughby and his colleagues suspected that the brains of rabies patients send out signals that sabotage vital organs. So, the team elected to slow the girl's brain activity using an anesthetic and drugs that inhibit the effect of glutamate, a chemical carrier of brain signals that causes problems when it's overabundant, as in patients with head injuries and a variety of brain disorders. The doctors also administered antiviral medication and put Giese on a breathing machine. <snip> Giese made abundant antibodies against rabies virus, and after just a week in a coma, she no longer showed any sign of infection. It was time to wake her up. <snip> In more recent news, Jeanna is now up and around.
Well, she's sure been vaccinated now, hasn't she?
Good job!
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