Hoping for a miracle…

Sheila was just a 7 year old kid.

I met her at San Lazaro Hospital, the Infectious Diseases and Tropical Medicine referral center for the Philippines. I had just arrived there to observe the practice of Infectious Diseases that are rare but important in the States – tetanus, bacterial meningitis, measles….

Sheila had come in for treatment, after experiencing difficulty swallowing at home. She was from Bulacan, a province in the southern part of Luzon.

Nine weeks earlier, she had been attacked by a dog. The dog had bit her on the right arm, and died a week later. Her mother had taken her to a local ‘herbalario’ because of the fear of rabies.

A herbalario is a practioner of ‘folk medicine’ and uses various herbs, incantations and concoctions to try and effect a cure. Although not formally trained in medicine, they are respected in their communities. Their rituals have a certain credibility, born out of an ingrained belief in the supernatural. Certainly, for some diseases, such as ‘coughs and colds’, a mentholated poltice or other vile remedy might actually work or ameliorate symptoms. Not for rabies though, which mandates appropriate medical treatment to prevent disease.

Rabies is 100% fatal, and any miscalculation can prove deadly.

Unfortunately, Sheila was showing the physical sign of hydrophobia. When she drank water from a cup, she recoiled with spasms of choking and reported chest pain. When I saw for myself this reaction, my heart sank because I knew she would die.