RE: >>The one human that tested positive for rabies.  Did they check s/he the
same way they check ferrets?   :) joke.>>
 
>>I'm sure I'm not the only one wondering--how *do* they test humans for
rabies, and why can't that be done to animals?
 
--Ronnie<<
 
The vets have probably already answered this one, but I will from an average
person's point of view.
 
Two ways to test rabies:  decapitate and check the brain with floresesce for
rabies or ...
the mouse colony - this is where a whole herd of mice are injected with the
syrum from the suspected rabid animal and observed for 30 days and tested
(decapitated) to see if they come down with rabies.
 
Decapitation is almost manditory if the bitten party is human, because
treatment against rabies must be started within two weeks.  If the bitten
party is another animal, most times decapitation is still warrented because
of time restraints.
 
If an animal is SUSPECTED of having rabies, but has not bitten anyone or
anything, the mouse colony test can be requested and the animal confined
until the results are in - but then is it fair for a mess of mice to die for
the sake of one other animal?  This is the ethical question the animal's
owner must face.
 
I'm not a PETA person with their thinking that "a rat is a pig is a dog is a
boy", but I did have the opportunity to have an animal I suspected of having
rabies quarantined while the mouse colony research went on, and I declined.
 The animal in question was a ranch mink, bitten by another ranch mink which
DID test positive for rabies.  The suspected mink was decapitated and tested
negative, so CDC decided to run the mouse colony anyway and the result was
STILL negative for rabies.  The first mink was exposed to rabiesby a wild
raccoon that visited my porch one evening and stole cat food from the feeder.
 Just another reason why ferrets should be kept indoors!
 
All this just goes to enforce in my mind that mustelids do not shed the
rabies virus, but die of it first.
 
Pam and her Pet Pals
 
[Moderator's note: re the specific part of the question about how *humans*
are tested, well, since nobody else answered yet: I think they (err... WE)
aren't.  If it is suspected that a human has been bitten by a rabid animal
and the animal can't be found/quarantined then the human gets the shots.
Period.  There is no test at that stage.
Eventually the rabies virus would show up in body fluids but by that time it
would be too late for prophylactic treatment.  Also, the location of the bite
is very important in determining how long to wait before treatment must begin -
it may take many months for the virus to become active if you are bitten in
an extremity, but may only take a few weeks if the bite is near or on the
head.  BIG]
[Posted in FML issue 1165]