Swimmer nipped on the ankle (broke the skin) by an otter while swimming in a lake. She did nothing to cause this reaction. Should she get a rabies shot?
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skfinkel (
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September 13th, 2009
This happened in a small lake in the Pacific Northwest. The otters are new to the lake in the last couple of years. I heard two years ago a little girl was nipped on her hand when she put it in the same lake. Also, we have learned that are no known cases of rabid otters in this State.
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14 Answers
I would think so. At the very least she otter ought to contact her doctor.
If this happened 2 years ago, shouldn’t you know the answer by now?...
Isn’t there a bigger risk of Tetanus? Do american kids get shots for that?
@Tink1113- I think that was a different incident.
We spent the better part of last evening in the emergency room (where she had been told to go) and got no real direction. They will leave this up to her to decide whether or not to get the rabies shot. They seem to think it is not likely to catch rabies in this area. She had a tetanus shot recently, so that was not a problem. Also good, apparently, was that I immediately cleaned the wound area and put antibiotic ointment on it. Still, the bigger decision is the rabies shot.
@Tink1113 What I have already learned about rabies that I never knew was that the animal infected dies very quickly. The little girl nipped two years ago did not get rabies, she also did not get the shot series, so no rabies was involved. I don’t know if this is the same (aggressive) otter or a different one. I also never knew about this little girl getting nipped until this morning, when I alerted the nearby resort. I do know that I want to get the otters out of this lake.
Decision made, she is getting the shots.
Thanks all who weighed in.
Did anyone consult with a parasitologist?
I love otters this has nothing to do with your question of course just had to put that out there. BYE!
i would have asked this question of the doctor, no offense to Fluther.
fyi, of course we checked with many doctors—the evidence suggested no, but it was left up to her. That’s why I asked fluther—I was interested in the opinions of the people here, to provide yet more perspective. In this case, there was no absolute right course of action—but her decision to go with the anti-rabies shots means that we won’t be having to hold our collective breaths and hope we don’t see signs of rabies, at which point, of course, we could do nothing.
Thank you @syz—a great and informative article.
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