Lyon : the child infected with rabies can be found in “a critical state”

C. VILLEMAIN/20 MINUTES/SIPA

Published the 11.10.2017 at 12h23

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A Lyon, a 10-year-old is hospitalized in “critical condition” after contracting rabies. The young boy was infected in August of last year in Sri Lanka playing with a dog carrying the virus. The national reference centre (CNR) for rabies at the Institut Pasteur laboratory confirmed the diagnosis on Monday, 9 October.

“He has been in contact with a puppy who was not shy, nor aggressive and that had a normal behavior,” said Bruno Morel, associate director of the sleep health of the regional Agency of health (ARS), Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes. By playing, the dog has mordillé the child without harming him. The parents have not raised concerns in the face of scratches and small bites, and have not brought up their sons to be vaccinated against rabies.

However, without prophylactic treatment, the rabies virus infects the nervous system and affects the functioning of the brain. “Apart from a few cases described, the outcome is always fatal when the disease is declared,” says the Institute Pasteur on his site. In the world every year, more than 59 000 people die of rabies.

A month of incubation of the virus

The child performed the first clinical signs on the 1st of October last. He complained of swallowing difficulties, was confused and agitated. The doctor who examined was then sent to the hospital in Villefranche-sur-Saône (Rhône), before being admitted to the Hospices civils de Lyon.

According to the information of the World, the little boy has been the victim of a cardiac arrest. In the emergency, the teams of the Uas have had to intubate her ” without even having time to put on gloves “. A dangerous move for these caregivers who may be contaminated, although the transmissions between people of the rage are exceptional.