My first patient with rabies

I will always remember Joey, the first patient
I ever saw with rabies.

I was a medical resident on a rotation at San Lazaro Hospital, in the heart of Manila, 10,000 miles from home.

Joey was a small boy, not more than 5 years old. Two months ago, he suffered a dog bite on his leg from the neighbor’s puppy. It was just a small nip in the skin, with only a few drops of blood produced. The puppy seemed alright, but it died a few days later – seemingly a victim of the stifling Manila heat. The parents struggled to make ends meet for their family of 5, it would be too much to take Joey to see a doctor – instead they would visit a local faith healer.

After some incantations and a procedure where a black porous stone was affixed to the wound (tandok), the family felt reassured rabies would not strike. The family had heard of rabies, but trusted the faith healer, as he proclaimed to have saved many lives from that cursed illness.

When Joey started to get sick 7 weeks later, the parents thought it was just a cold. He didn’t have much appetite and had some headache. A few days later he had some fever and felt tired. Then, he started to complain about itching on the leg where he had been bitten before. That night, he didn’t eat any dinner. His older sister thought he should at least try to drink something, so she brought him a glass of water. Joey suddenly shrieked and held his hand to his mouth when he saw the water, trying to get away from the threat in front of him. Terrified, the mother realized her son had rabies!