A 77-year-old Wyoming woman has died after being bitten by a rabid bat on Aug. 21. The woman didn't seek treatment until symptoms showed more than three weeks later, according to The Daily Mail.
The woman started experiencing symptoms on Sept. 21 but did not seek treatment until a week later at SageWest Health Center in Lander, Wyo. SageWest transferred the patient to a hospital in Salt Lake City where she died the following day on Oct. 3, according to The Daily Ranger.
The case is believed to be the first ever human rabies case in Wyoming, as well as the first human fatality from this deadly disease there. The Center for Disease Control data shows that this is the first human fatality from rabies in the U.S. since 2013.
Rabies is accountable for 55,000 deaths in humans, per year, as previously reported by HNGN. Every 10 minutes someone in the world dies from rabies. It is 99.9 percent fatal. While Africa and India are at the highest risk, with more than 50 percent of rabies cases coming from India.
Rabies is spread through saliva, tears, sputum and spinal fluid. The symptoms include weakness, paralysis, neurological abnormalities, behavior changes and mental deficiencies.
Public health officials are swiftly contacting all who have had contact with the woman, including family, friends and health care workers, to determine their risk of getting the disease.
"We have completed around 20 interviews," Wyoming Department of Health Public Health Veterinarian Karl Musgrave said on Tuesday. "About half of those people have started the rabies shots."
"We are acting real fast to identify the people who need shots," Musgrave said.
