Conference moira::parenting

    Oh boy, I don't envy your position.

    	There is some information that may help you make your decision:

    	Chances are *very* slight that the hamster had rabies,

    	Did you get it from a pet store? (if so, chances are the hamster
    was ill (as are most animals from pet stores) but rabies would be rare).

    	Did you have the hamster for awhile? (if it had rabies, the disease
    would have developed quite quickly so if you had it for awhile chances
    of rabies are even more remote).

    	Did the hamsters behave *Very* differently before it died? (Hyper,
    extremely lethargic, glassy eyed, difficulty breathing, foaming at the
    mouth - actually if it had an active case of rabies, it would have
    behaved so strange that I seriously doubt your daughter would have
    picked up the animal - I've seen a raccoon with rabies and it acted as
    it it were drunk, not cute drunk but drunk, I'm staying away from this
    animal because it is acting so weird).

    	Did your daughter's bite wound get infected, turn red, show signs
    of invasion? 

    	Hamsters are not for the most part hardy animals (especially those
    inbred pet store variety). I've had many die and yes they do eat each
    other, it's instinctive. They are not very resistant and things like
    the recent heat wave may make them ill enough to die.

    	I would *probably* decide to not go through the shots. It's just to
    unlikely that a hamster would get rabies. If on the other hand, the
    animal were a squirrel or stray dog, I would not hesitate to go through
    the shots.

    	The rabies shots of today are not the rabies shots of yesterday,
    they are not as traumatic as they are often pictured in movies or in
    the stories we heard as kids (98 shots in the belly each day, I swear!)

    	Good luck with your decision.


    			Wendy

    I've talked to my Vet. on a number of occassions about rabies, and
    he said it's very rare, even in bats!
    
    

Also, the one hamster eating another after it dies is not unusual behavior.  I
saw this all the time with my own hamsters when I was a kid.

    On the other hand....rabies, if caught, is fatal. Rather safe than sorry?
    Yes, it's really tough to put your child through those shots. But you
    will feel you did the best for your child, and you won't spend the 
    next two weeks wondering and worrying. 
    
    Cyn

    
    How do animals contract rabies?  Is it a virus/bacteria that they
    can get through the environment?  Or is a bite or scratch required?
    
    
    Jodi-
    
    

Rabies is caused by a virus.  It requires a bite, because it is transmitted 
thru saliva.  The virus actually attacks the brain and leaves a distinctive
cell destruction pattern, which is why an autopsy of a suspected rabid animal
can resolve the question.  (Ok, so someone could have a rabid animal lick
an open wound - but that's even less probable than being bitten by a rabid
animal).  You may remember that the old name for rabies is hydrophobia, because
the rabid animal has an aversion to drinking.  Wish I could remember why.

I remember my Virology professor saying that rabies is very rare in humans, 
simply because it is so avoidable.

There has only recently been successful treatment of rabies in humans.  
Treatment isn't antibiotics or stuff like that, it is support of the individual
symptoms - like, IV to replace fluid because the person won't drink, drugs to
stop convulsions.  This treatment has a small success rate.

One more possibility - talk to the pet store manager/owner where
you got the hamsters.  Explain your problem and find out if any of the other
hamsters showed signs of sickness.  Get him to call his supplier and ask the
same questions.  If you don't get much from him, ask the State Health department,
your veterinarian, or your pediatrician to make the phone call.

Markus was bitten by a field mouse recently which, of course, we were unable 
to catch to have tested.  I did what you did and called around.  What I
suggest you do is talk openly with the pediatrician.  Ours recommended NOT
to have the shots.  He said there was no rabies in the area at that time and
there hadn't been for quite some time.  They had several years ago undergone
a successful campaign to eradicate rabies in foxes which was the last rabies 
in the area.

Therefore, the risk that the animal had rabies was far less than the risk from
trauma from the shots.  He did recommend a tetanus booster however.

Cheryl

    	Small aside here, I learned in a graduate Epidemiology class about
    an instance where rabies was transmitted by air. The case concerned
    some cave explorers who came across a section of an underground cavern
    that had been a "bat cave" for a long long time. Obviously there was a
    lot of bat guano lying around that got kicked up by the explorers, they
    inhaled the virus particles (in very high doses) and contracted rabies
    via airborne transmission.

    	No other case of airborne transmission has ever been reported.

    				Wendy

    Just an update.... I called the pet store and learned that the hamsters
    were hand-bred in a home, never exposed to the outdoors or potentially
    rabid animals.  Further, none of their siblings had any reported
    problems.
    
    Based on her questions, I feel certain the hamsters died of "wet tail"
    which is apparently pretty common, though I never saw it in 10+ years
    of hamster raising!
    
    I did not put Kati (or myself) through the shots.
    
    Thanks for all the info - I learn something new every day!
    
    KRisten

    I raised more hampsters growing up as a kid, than I could begin to
    count.  Ours started out with two of them received from a friend who
    worked in research at one of Boston's larger teaching hospitals.  First
    it was Patty and Patrick, and well the rest is beyond counting....
    
    Anyway, I was bitten a few times.  We simply cleaned the wound, put a
    bandaid on it, and kept on going.  Most times the animals bit us was
    because they smelled food on our hands.  We had only two cases where
    the animals exhibited strange behavior.  This is where we called our
    friend who had given them to us, to have him take them and destroy
    them.  In both cases the autopsies showed brain tumors.  The last thing
    I'd have ever expected.
    
    What I'm saying is that strange behavior in an animal doesn't always
    equate to rabies.  It could be a genuine disease of another sort.  My
    uncle worked for two large Boston suburbs on the Board of health and
    told me that squirrels and bats were probably the number one and two
    offenders with rabies.
    
    Something else you might want to run past your pedi, is to
    have testing done for toxoplasmosis,which is carried through bodily
    fluids, although it may be one of those wait for a while things due 
    to an incubation period.
    
    Good luck
    Lyn

Just as an FYI to anyone interested in rabies:  I read recently that they
have changed the shots with rabies and you are no longer required to have
umpteen million painful shots in the stomach.  I *think* it is just one
shot now, but am not certain.  

      Carol