Monkey bite leads to rabies reminder
Beach resorts, cheap drinks, scuba diving, rabies – your next Bali getaway could have it all.
Travel doctors say too many Kiwis are coming home potentially carrying rabies.
A 27-year-old Te Awamutu office worker, who declined to be named, is potentially living with the fatal disease.
A trip to Bali last summer was going swimmingly and days out from the New Year, she took a private tour of the popular Ubud monkey forest.
She bought bananas at the forest and dangled the fruit above her head to capture a photo of a monkey on her shoulder. ‘‘I was watching it peel the banana – like, oh, cute – and all of a sudden it lunged at me.’’
Bitten and panicked, she wrenched her right arm and dragged the monkey’s teeth through 4 centimetres of her flesh.
First aid staff at the forest assured her there was no risk of rabies and told her to wash the wound twice with soap. But rabies is endemic to Asia and medical experts say a monkey bite requires proper treatment.
Her trip continued but a stranger at a buffet lunch later raised concerns about her wound. She rushed to a nearby hospital and staff gave her two shots of the vaccine.
Back in New Zealand, she was alarmed to discover that, without a course of immunoglobulin, the chance of rabies remained – despite $700 worth of treatment.
She is, however, reassured there have been no known rabies cases contracted from Ubud monkeys.
Hamilton travel doctor Mark Taylor has seen six similar cases from the Ubud forest alone this year and seven all told. ‘‘The problem is that none of these people were given immunoglobulin. If the monkey was rabid, we’ve put it off maybe for years, but it’s like a ticking time bomb.’’
Monkeys in Bali are not known to have rabies, but there is an epidemic of the disease among dogs there.
Transmitted through saliva, rabies can’t be tested for. The virus travels to the brain via the nervous system and can hide in body tissue for up to 16 years.
‘‘If you get bitten, and you get vaccinated straight away, the vaccine doesn’t kick in for seven days, and in that time the rabies may find a nerve.’’
A course of immunoglobulin, which isn’t widely available and can cost up to $2000, guarantees survival.
Getting vaccinated prior to travel eliminates the need for immunoglobulin – but there’s another way to prevent infection.
‘‘Take photos of other people feeding the monkeys,’’ Taylor said.
Ministry of Health information shows there have been no confirmed cases of rabies in New Zealand.