When it comes to protecting yourself from rabies, it seems as if hand sanitizer won't cut it.San Antonio Spurs guard Manu Ginobili -- three-time NBA champ, Olympic gold medalist, NBA All-Star, exterminator extraordinaire and scourge of PETA -- has been required to get shots for rabies, the San Antonio Express-News reports, because of his quick reflexes and a chance encounter with a bat on Saturday night:
Ginobili took four shots Monday in the hip and arm, and he is scheduled for four more such sessions over the next month. "It was pretty funny at the time," Ginobili told the San Antonio Express-News. "Now it's not. I got like a million shots for rabies."
If you haevn't been living in a (bat) cave, you know by now a bat flew into the AT&T Center during the Spurs-Kings contest, causing a slight delay and more than a couple of freak-outs. Ginobili, in one of his best on-court moments since finding Robert Horry all alone at the 3-point line in overtime of Game 5 of the 2005 NBA Finals, swatted the bat to the court, scooped up his prey and handed it to a clearly skittish security guard.
What happened next was a matter of debate.
PETA thought it was dead, and they let the world know that Ginobili should have taken pity on the poor creature. But Ginobili didn't kill the bat. Turns out, he stunned it (and the crowd, who gave him a standing O for his Manu-a-mano defense), which is the reason he was getting precautionary rabies vaccinations.
Because someone released the bat into the wilds of central Texas, no one could do a test on the bat to see if it was carrying the disease. Hence, Ginobili will be subjected to series of shots for the next month. On Monday, he sported bandages covering the vaccinations.
"It wasn't so much fun," Ginobili told the Express-News. "But the bat survived. I'm fine. I'm not going to have rabies."
Phew! Though the thought of a rabid off guard caught the Spurs, well, off guard.
"Everybody was worried about H1N1," said Richard Jefferson to the Express-News. "Now you've got rabies to worry about."
Don't worry about swine flu, Richard. You have plenty of hand sanitizer for that.
Comments (Page 1 of 3)
"Everybody was worried about H1N1," said Richard Jefferson. "Now you've got rabies to worry about."
I can top that.
Everyone's concerned about Manu getting shots. What about the guy he handed the bat to???
There was no reason for him to get the shots if he was not bit. I had a raccoon fall out of a tree on me, it scratched my face and it's claws put a couple of small holes in my neck. I went to the hospital, but only got a tetanus shot and some antibiotics. That was about 5 years ago. They are making way too big of a deal about this.
gsps3, are you thinking he's getting the shots for a good time? Yes, there is a reason. He handled the bat. Fleas carry rabies, as does saliva. As a matter of FACT, a dead animal can give you rabies just like a live animal. Please brush up on your facts before blathering advice in the future.
They gave him a travel bottle of hand sanitizer and a note that said "good luck".
PETA = People Eating Tastey Animals
mmm mmm good
lol
They should have held on to that bat and chopped up the brain to check for rabies
Can someone chop up the crazy Peta's brains to check for rabies...oh I forgot they don't have brains.
This is crazy, he is european for god's sakes, what he did was not a big deal, just talking about it, makes us Americans look and sound stupit, as the whole world thinks.
He is not from Europe, he is from Argentina....wrong side of the worls Beefus.
Peta believed the poor helpless innocent little bat had been wantonly murdered because the mass media, including Aol, falsely reported that was the case. The Spurs should have kept it. Odds were overwhelming it would not have been rabid. That would have sparred Manu needless shots. Selig, good name, but seems kinda backwards to me!, ought to expand a major league baseball franchise into San Antonio, and call it The Bats! And since they`d want an even numbered expansion, they could also put an expansion team in Montreal, to replace the Expos, with some other name (the french kisses? whatever).
you must be one of those peta heads, "Odds were overwhelming it would not have been rabid" actually rabies is MOST OFTEN found in bats and raccoons. would you be fool enough to take a chance on a 100 percent fatal disease?
If I "MUST" be one of the Peta folks, why didn`t I condemn Ginobilli, as they did? Odds are reported to be only have percent chance of rabies infection if bitten by a bat, and Ginobilli was NOT bitten, nor was anyone else. Docs still did right to give him shots when they did wrong to not check the facts, but not checking facts is idiocy, as is presuming someone "MUST" be someone you want to find fault with, even though they didn`t agree with those folks, merely pointed out the truth, the media deliberately or not misinformed the public the bat was killed when it was not.
Emmanuel Ginobilli is from Argentina, of Italian descent. Hope he`s healthy this year. Kobe could use a good back up in the all star game.
Search Jim Lorentz Batman. Used his hockey stick to kill a bat on the ice at Buffalo's Memorial Auditorium back in the 70's Manu should have throw the ball.
I do not like bats.One flew in my house.And while I was sleeping I could see a shadow flying over my head.Of course I got up.It may be small in size.But, they look like a 747 Jet flying over your head with the wings spread out.
did anyone else catch larry david clapping and jumping up and down in the background?
11-04-2009 @ 8:58AM
gsps3 said...
There was no reason for him to get the shots if he was not bit. I had a raccoon fall out of a tree on me, it scratched my face and it's claws put a couple of small holes in my neck. I went to the hospital, but only got a tetanus shot and some antibiotics. That was about 5 years ago. They are making way too big of a deal about this.
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The REASON is that Texas has had a Rabies epedemic
for SEVERAL years....and its BETTER to be SAFE than SORRY. If YOUR doctor WASNT concerned about the broke skin and holes the raccoon left....I WOULD NOT go back to THAT DOCTOR. He DID put YOUR life in danger. Saliva GETTING INTO your blood is HOW rabies transfers.The doctor had NO IDEA it DIDNT. UNLESS the animal was killed and tested...WAS IT?
You don't have to be bitten by a bat to contract rabies from it. All it would have taken was for infected bat saliva to enter an opening in the skin of his hand. The only way to have tested the bat would have been to kill it and examine the brain matter.
Per the CDC, a bat in a room with a sleeping adult or a bat in a room anytime with an infirm person or small child is a rabies exposure. In these cases the bat should be tested or the
person(s) involved should undergo rabies treatment.
www.crittercontrol.com
wow to the person that had a raccoon fall on them and scratch their neck... you should look into litigation against the MD that had a look at you because its too late to vaccinate you from rabies and the only way to tell if you contracted it is to do a post mortem