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[at-l] re: rocky mt spotted fever

capnclay wrote:

 >>>   Does anyone have information on a preventative serum or vaccination
against Rocky Mt. Spotted fever?   <<<

wildbill's information from cdc is good.  looks like there is nothing
(medication) you can take to prevent it.  a course of antibiotics and rest
is the cure.

rmsf is a variety of rickettsia, and having contracted rickettsia last
year, i can tell you - do everything you can not to get it!  besides ticks,
you can also contract it from spider bites, and rodent feces (rarish).

i got it the last day and a half of a 6-day, 100 miles wilderness kayaking
trip on the middle fork of the salmon river, id.  i don't know by which
means i contracted it, but probably a tick.  it hit quite suddenly.  i was
fine in the morning of day 4, groggy by the time we stopped for lunch, then
spent the next day and a half sitting in a raft, trying not to puke, kayak
strapped to the back, missing some of the best rapids on the river.
symptoms are like a bad flu, and i got severely dehydrated, despite
drinking lots - for some reason i just peed it all out.  went straight to
the emergency room when we got back to civilization, and they pumped 3
litres of saline into me.  then i was home for 10 days on antibiotics, and
5 of those days i just didn't want to leave the couch for anything.  very
low white blood cell count.  i suspect if i had been treated earlier, it
wouldn't have been so bad.

take care out there...


mike
ke kaahawe   AT92 TYT94 PCTsoon
mikeh@royalrobbins.com
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