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nafex - Re: [NAFEX] Was: Pear Thief, now hazards of relocating wildlife

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  • From: "Dr. Lucky Pittman" <lucky.pittman@murraystate.edu>
  • To: "'North American Fruit Explorers'" <nafex@lists.ibiblio.org>
  • Subject: Re: [NAFEX] Was: Pear Thief, now hazards of relocating wildlife
  • Date: Thu, 26 Aug 2010 09:42:52 -0500

I’m not a fan of consuming brains-as-food either, though thorough cooking would render inactive any rabies virus which might be present in any tissue(but evidently not prions or spiroplasmas, or whatever causes the spongiform encephalopathies like kuru, Creutzfeld-Jakob disease, etc.). 

As the ‘Worms and Germs’ blog pointed out, these individuals who contracted rabies most likely became infected with the rabies virus in the process of butchering the dog/cat carcasses, or during preparation of the meat/brains for cooking.

 

As viruses go, rabies is not especially robust; even if you were bitten by a confirmed rabid animal, and did nothing more than aggressively scrub/clean the wound with soap and water, chances are, you’d not become infected – but I’d still go ahead with the recommended post-exposure prophylaxis.

 

Rodents are pretty low-risk, with regard to being a rabies hazard; yes, they’re susceptible, but the incidence of rabies in rodent species is very low – with the exception of groundhogs – presumably due to their increased likelihood of encountering skunks in their burrows.

 

 

Louis L. "Lucky" Pittman, Jr., DVM

Veterinary Pathologist/Section Head

Murray State University

Breathitt Veterinary Center

PO Box 2000, 715 North Drive

Hopkinsville, KY 42240

Office: 270-881-3442

 

 

 

I agree Lucky, especially your last sentence...  Robins are not considered endangered by our household, I'd bet they'd cook up just like dove.   I've heard that you can get rabies from eating the brain of a diseased animal, so I'd probably be extremely careful when preparing any rodent or mammal for dinner...personally, I'm not fond of brains-as-food, so I would not plan on eating the them.. This link refers to a couple of cases where those who butchered were not careful enough.

 




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