Comments on: Bike, Bark, Bite, Blood: The Perils of Cycling in Rabies Country

By: Alastair Bland

Alastair Bland — Tue, 26 Feb 2013 16:06:43 +0000

Thanks for your words, Bill. I was advised by several doctors that 7 shots, one per day for a week, is sufficient. Later I heard that an 8th shot 10 days after the 7th followed by a 9th and 10th in successive months are also recommended. I have not pursued this line of defense as I have heard it is not essential. Moreover, it seems highly doubtful that the dog had rabies. As I wrote, it was a family dog, present with two children before biting me. I am going to consult with a doctor within a week about the situation. If you know more, please share. To your health!

By: Bill

Bill — Tue, 26 Feb 2013 15:36:21 +0000

Consider visiting this CDC rabies webpage to learn more about what is now the standard post-exposure medical management: http://www.cdc.gov/rabies/medical_care/index.html

I’ve very limited knowledge of rabies. Nonetheless, I strongly endorse the pre-exposure vaccinations. Further you might wish to verify being immune for the two years post-treatment.

Bill
retired CDC employee

By: Claudia

Claudia — Sat, 23 Feb 2013 23:33:22 +0000

These animals are not PETS. And you have been told wrong…their idea of animal control, and justly right, is to drop them with a bullet. 50+ years ago, a village would pay and or feed one person to kill (beat, bag, burn) and rid their town of these mangy, rabid PESTS. You have failed to do your homework and for some reason choose to inappropriately lash out and make excuses. If you want to watch the Superbowl and hang out with like-minded Americans, so be it. But you might want to befriend a local or two and ask a few questions before you get yourself into some real trouble. I am with Alex on this, but I will be a little more frank about it.

By: Andrew

Andrew — Mon, 11 Feb 2013 03:38:50 +0000

Alex, having been to South America, I can attest to everything the author says. The dogs there are overpopulated, often starving and diseased, and sometimes aggressive. These dogs are not loved, and there is nothing charming or quaint about it, no matter how cultural it may be. It’s sad to see animals treated with such neglect.

Furthermore, if a dog charged and bit me – in Ecuador or the U.S. – and the owners treated me with apathy and their children laughed at me, I, too, would be angry and would have no objection to the dog being put down.

Would you consider the parents of a child wandering through the streets and causing trouble to be good and loving parents? Then what about the owners of neglected, hungry, and aggressive dogs?

By: Carol Eckman

Carol Eckman — Mon, 11 Feb 2013 00:54:42 +0000

Alex, maybe you don’t know about street dogs in Chile and Argentina, but I have seen them with my own eyes. In Santiago they run in packs and people have been bitten. If this were a contest about dog knowledge of Latin America, I think you would lose. Spaying and neutering are being put forward by the citizens as way to humanely deal with animal abandonment and over-population. If you want to experience the natural state of a dog there are many packs to examine.
Alastair has not been arrogant, but you are being ignorant.

By: Alex

Alex — Sun, 10 Feb 2013 16:27:50 +0000

Yes, you are absolutely correct. If I were a dog, I would prefer to have my testicles removed and be confined inside an apartment/house most of the day and come out only at night with a leash on. This is the natural state of a dog/animal after all. Don’t confuse an adapting solution to the ideal state and think it superior.

Your reply exemplifies what I was alluding to earlier. Some are hopeless I suppose. Anyways, be safe in your journey.

By: Alastair Bland

Alastair Bland — Sun, 10 Feb 2013 02:38:03 +0000

Thanks for the comment. I didn’t decide anything. It’s just my sensible guess that dogs that are often emaciated, diseased or squashed by vehicles are neglected, and I assume that neglected dogs are unloved dogs. Consider the dog that bit me. It ran across both lanes of traffic to reach me, and its owners (whole family was present) did not object until well after it bit me, when I made a fuss. If my dog, whom I love very much, ran into a highway, I would panic whether she bit a person or not.

And are you suggesting that neutering dogs is an inhumane practice? I don’t see advantages, for people or dogs, to letting the animals overpopulate and run free since it means a great deal of them will be homeless and/or get hit and killed by cars.

By: Alex

Alex — Sat, 09 Feb 2013 17:33:16 +0000

Rather than get the series of vaccine shots that forced you to stay put for a week perhaps you could have obtained permission from the owners to take the dog to a vet (where they can observe the dog for 10 days for signs of rabies) or even more confirmatory, biopsy the dog after death if owners can be persuaded. Of course this would have been easy as you said those 3rd world people don’t “love” their dogs and probably would have readily given or sold their dog to you for biopsying.

I find your ignorance and arrogance offensive especially for a person who has traveled. Developed world dogs might be more pampered but I am not so sure if they are more happy (especially since dogs in developed worlds are confined and neutered). Who are you to decide.

Hoping you let go of your arrogance and understand other cultures from within rather than with your condescending attitude of other people and their culture. You might even grasp that there are distinct advantages to their methods within their environment. It seems travels have been lost on you except for perhaps boasting to your family and friends of the places you have visited.

Anyways, enjoy your travels and may you stay clear of harm.

By: Alastair Bland

Alastair Bland — Fri, 08 Feb 2013 22:56:33 +0000

Thanks for checking. Yes–I have been immunized against yellow fever and TB. But I did not receive rabies shots before coming here. I simply didn’t expect that Ecuador’s dogs would be any nastier than the street dogs of any other nation, and they aren’t. I have cycled through many countries. Even in relatively well-to-do places dogs can be horrid. Portugal’s dogs were some of the most aggressive and foul I’ve encountered, and I’ve had close encounters several times in California. But never have I been badly bitten through hundreds of unpleasant interactions with dogs, and, like many, if not most, travelers, I did not see the need to get rabies shots before coming here. In fact, it’s just as easy to get treated after a bite.

And I didn’t really expect that people in Ecuador would be walking around with plastic bags tied to their dogs’ leashes, nor do I particularly care that they don’t. I was simply illustrating one of many differences between dog ownership culture in developed nations and those less developed.

By: bish.s

bish.s — Fri, 08 Feb 2013 18:34:24 +0000

So sorry to read about your misadventure with the dogs in Ecuador but… (sorry, your expectations made me laugh a little) “picking up the poop, giving baths” to their dogs? What were you expecting? This is a 3rd world developing – and in many parts underdeveloped – country. People there do not know that they need to pick up after their dogs! I know some people in USA that do not like to do that. These are poor people that adopt their dogs as just another part of their extended family and let them eat and do whatever they like. An immunization program is the prudent way to go while travelling through countries like Ecuador. I hope you have been immunized against yellow fever and tuberculosis, especially as you plan to go to the Amazon forest area… have you?