Lyon: the child infected with rabies is in “critical condition”

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

“He was in contact with a puppy which was neither shy nor aggressive and which had a normal behavior”, explained Bruno Morel, deputy director of the sanitary watch of the regional health agency (ARS) Auvergne-Rhône -Alps. While playing, the dog bit the child without hurting him. The parents were therefore not worried face the scratches and small bites, and did not take their son 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”, indicates the Institut Pasteur on its website. Each year around the world, more than 59,000 people die of rabies.

One month incubation of the virus

The child presented the first clinical signs on 1^er last october. He complained of difficulty swallowing, was confused and agitated. The general practitioner who examined him then referred him to the Villefranche-sur-Saône (Rhône) hospital, before being admitted to the Hospices Civils de Lyon.

According to information from World, the little boy suffered cardiac arrest. In an emergency, the Samu teams had to intubate him “without even having time to put on gloves”. A dangerous gesture for these caregivers who risk being contaminated, although human-to-human transmission of rabies is exceptional.

Major vaccination campaign

A theoretical risk that the ARS Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes is not ready to take. As a precautionary measure, she “identified people who have been in direct contact with the saliva or tears of this child, particularly the child’s family, his close comrades and the caregivers who took care of him”, indicates she said in a press release.

And the list is long. In addition to his family and health professionals, the parents of students at his school in Chasselay have received a letter inviting them to consult the anti-rabies center in Lyon so that the latter can assess the need for a preventive vaccination. Always according to The world, the region is said to have more than 250 doses of vaccine in stock.

Since 1970, 23 cases of rabies have been observed in humans in metropolitan France. All of them were infected abroad in areas where the virus is circulating, particularly in Africa and Asia. The disease also circulates to a lesser extent in Central and Eastern Europe, the Middle East or the Americas. The last indigenous case of rabies on French territory dates back to 1924.