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["Toni Hawryluk" <tonihawr AT msn.com>]

http://famulus.msnbc.com/famulusgen/ap11-23-201637.asp?t=apnew&vts=112420040617<http://famulus.msnbc.com/famulusgen/ap11-23-201637.asp?t=apnew&vts=112420040617>

 

Rabies patient who received experimental treatment becomes unusual success 
story

 

By JULIET WILLIAMS
ASSOCIATED PRESS

 

WAUWATOSA, Wis., Nov. 23 - A unique combination of drugs has made a 
15-year-old girl the first known human to survive rabies without vaccination, 
doctors said.

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A team of physicians gambled on an experimental treatment and induced a coma 
in Jeanna Giese to stave off the usually fatal infection, said Dr. Rodney 
Willoughby, a pediatric disease infection specialist at Children's Hospital 
of Wisconsin. 


''No one had really done this before, even in animals,'' Willoughby said. 
''None of the drugs are fancy. If this works it can be done in a lot of 
countries.'' 


Only five people in the world before Jeanna are known to have survived rabies 
after the onset of symptoms, said Dr. Charles Rupprecht, chief of the rabies 
section at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. But they had 
received standard treatment - a series of rabies vaccine shots - before 
experiencing symptoms. 


Rabies, which attacks the brain and the nervous system, is considered 
untreatable with the appearance of symptoms, which include fever, headache, 
anxiety, loss of consciousness. 


''Basically we had a race and Jeanna won. Her immune system won,'' Rupprecht 
said at a news conference Tuesday. 


Rupprecht said the CDC is reevaluating its approach to rabies in people, and 
scientists are studying what drug combinations might work in infected 
animals. 


Although the United States has only a few cases of human rabies each year, 
someone in the world dies of rabies every 15 minutes on average, Rupprecht 
said. 


Jeanna was infected when she was bitten by a bat while at church Sept. 12 but 
did not seek treatment. She began showing rabies symptoms Oct. 13 and was 
hospitalized two days later. 


Willoughby said the treatment, which includes two anesthetics and two 
antiviral medications, will have to be duplicated in another patient before 
it can be credited as a rabies treatment. Willoughby said he would not reveal 
the exact drugs used until a report is published in a medical journal. 


Doctors do not know whether Jeanna will have neurological or physical 
problems from the attack on her immune system. Doctors hope to release her 
from a rehabilitation ward by Christmas. Her parents said she stood up for 
the first time Tuesday and recognizes people when they came in the room. 


John and Ann Giese, of Fond du Lac, said they did not hesitate when doctors 
approached them about trying the experimental treatment. They already had 
been told their daughter probably would die. 


''Miracles can happen,'' John Giese said. ''We believed it from day one. We 
had to convince everyone else.'' 

On the Net: Centers for Disease Control and Prevention: 
http://www.cdc.gov<http://www.cdc.gov/> 
© 2004 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be 
published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.