The Health bulletin [serial] - University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill

26 The Health Bulletin May, 192:
Tragic Account of
Last December Dr. W. Burdett
Robertson of Burnsville, North Carolina,
reported the death of an elevenyear
old boy as occurring under rather
unusual and tragic circumstances. The
cause of the death was reported as
being hydrophobia with smallpox as a
contributing cause. We wrote to Dr.
Robertson for any further information
about this particular tragedy. Dr.
Robertson very kindly has supplied us
with additional information which he
consents for us to use.
The boy who died had always been
frail, and therefore in the various
efforts at vaccination in the community
he had been excused on account of his
ill health. He lived on a farm near
Burnsville with his parents and had a
histoiw of not being able to play but a
short while before becoming tired out
and nervous. His father reported that
the child had not been able to do but
little in performing his share of duties
on the farm coming to every farm boy.
Being exposed to smallpox, he contracted
the disease and had not fully
recovered from this when he was badly
bitten by a rabid dog on the left wrist
and arm. The dog had gotten the boy
down when the father knocked the dog
down with a board. The father, thinking
he had killed the dog, kicked him
under the bank of the road and went
in to dress the wounded boy. On coming
out of the house later he noted that
the dog was making efforts to get up,
not being dead as the father thought.
Therefore the father got the shot gun
and shot the dog in the head. The dog's
head was sent to the State Laboratory
of Hygiene immediately, but the brain
of the dog was so mutilated that a
satisfactory diagnosis could not be
made. However, Dr. Robertson felt
sure that the dog was rabid, and on
the seventh day after the child was
bitten he started the anti-rabic treatment
and the boy had taken thirteen
treatments when he become very nervous
and developed, what was in Dr.
Robertson's opinion, a clear-cut case of
hydrophobia, dying about four days
later, or on the twenty-fourth day after
RABIES
Death from Hydrophobia Reported by Mountain
Physician
he had been bitten by the dog. Dr.
Robertson thinks that it was possible
that, on account of the child's weakened
condition occurring from the
severe attack of smallpox, the boy
might have developed rabies and died
more quickly than if he had been well
and strong at the time. While the
laboratory test was unsatisfactory as
aforementioned, another dog bitten by
the same dog on the same day that he
bit the boy developed rabies and died.
The boy did not show any signs of
paralysis as, of course, sometimes in
rare cases may happen from the treatment,
but was just the opposite condition.
In other words, he developed
what may be called Furious Rabies and
had to be forcibly restrained until
death relieved him from his sufferings.
Naturally the death of this boy under
such circumstances was a very unusual
and rare phenomenon, but it affords
interest from many angles. In the first
place it illustrates the necessity of vaccinating
every human being against
smallpox, excusing no one except dead
people, if smallpox is to be eliminated
from the State of North Carolina, as
can easily be done. In the second place
it illustrates again, if such illustration
were necessary, the importance of drastic
control of strolling, roving, stray
dogs.
In concluding this report, for the
information of many people who have
never seen a rabid dog, we are publishing
a very interesting description from
the bulletin of the Provincial Bureau
of Health of Montreal, Canada.
"Rabies may take the form of Furious
Rabies or Paralytic Rabies.
"The principal symptoms of Furious
Rabies are the following : The dog appears
subdued, restless and distracted.
It seeks dark and isolated places, and
is slow to come to the call of its master.
At this stage, it is difficult to determine
whether or not it is a case of Rabies,
but Rabies must be suspected, for this
change of behavior is an indication of
beginning Rabies and it is very essential,
at this time, to i-ecognize that the
animal may be dangerous and may