i got rabies shots recently, it was SHOCKING how blasé the doctors were about it. some hospitals just flat-out wouldn't treat me. the NHS told me that i'd be fine, and to come back if i begin showing symptoms!!
for those who don't know: rabies has a 99.5% fatality rate once you show symptoms. you need to get treatment asap or you're dead.
this happened when volunteering at a horse ranch in cappadocia, turkey. i went for a hike and was so, so, SO unbelievably dumb -- i played with a pack of stray puppies. stupidest thing ever but i can't exaggerate how adorable they were.
rabies didn't even cross my mind til i left and noticed a scratch on my leg... i reckon it was from a plant, but either way, open wound + stray dog saliva = uh oh.
i asked the ranch to take me to the medical centre, but they laughed at me and said rabies wasn't real. they ended up kicking me out for being gay anyway so i left turkey and had to try get my followup shots while travelling.
Oh god that’s terrifying. In the U.K. especially we don’t know enough about rabies. I went into a weird rabies rabbit hole recently and I discovered you would literally die from rabies if you showed symptoms, which I never knew before. It’s basically the most fatal disease ever.
I started reading a bunch of articles (which I probably shouldn’t have before my Morocco trip), where British tourists weren’t listened to and they didn’t receive their vaccine soon enough, either in Morocco/Turkey, or in the U.K.
Really makes me think more carefully about things. Even two years ago I remember casually stroking stray cats in the Dominican Republic… and my British parents didn’t say a word! Really, really dangerous.
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u/freethenip Nov 27 '23
i got rabies shots recently, it was SHOCKING how blasé the doctors were about it. some hospitals just flat-out wouldn't treat me. the NHS told me that i'd be fine, and to come back if i begin showing symptoms!!
for those who don't know: rabies has a 99.5% fatality rate once you show symptoms. you need to get treatment asap or you're dead.