Soldier died of rabies?

US soldier dies of rabies after dog bite in Afghanistan
Published May 03, 2012
NewsCore

WASHINGTON – A 24-year-old American soldier died of rabies after being bitten by a dog last year in Afghanistan, US health officials said Thursday following an investigation into the rare case.

The otherwise healthy soldier started experiencing symptoms of shoulder and neck pain and tingling sensations in his hands soon after arriving at Fort Drum, N.Y., in mid-August 2011.

His condition escalated to include nausea, vomiting, anxiety and trouble swallowing. By the time he was admitted to an emergency room, he was dehydrated and hydrophobic, meaning he developed an intense fear of drinking liquids because of the painful muscle spasms he experienced while swallowing.

"He was lucid and described having received a dog bite on the right hand during January 2011 while deployed to Afghanistan," said the report by the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

But an investigation by the US Army turned up no documentation of a reported bite wound or treatment, nor any record of a dog tested for rabies, according to the report.
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What is the point of a story like this? The soldier's name was not in it. He was bitten last year? Supposedly he was bitten in January but in August he was sent to Fort Drum? The Army has no record?


This is from the CDC

U.S. Soldiers and Rabies: Investigations of Post-Deployment Exposures
Posted: December 6, 2011

During August, 2011 a U.S. soldier stationed at a military base in New York became ill with symptoms compatible with rabies. Onset of symptoms occurred approximately three months following active deployment in Afghanistan. Diagnostic testing confirmed rabies and characterized a variant associated with Afghani dogs. In more than 30 years, no other rabies case has resulted from exposure during active duty.

During the course of contact tracing and investigating the soldier's exposure, additional soldiers were identified with unreported animal exposures, mostly dog bites. In response to these findings, the Department of Defense (DoD) and Veterans Affairs (VA) initiated a collaborative effort to identify soldiers returning from active duty abroad that may have had unreported rabies exposures. Routine exposure assessment is being included in post-deployment evaluations of soldiers and efforts are underway to identify veterans who may have had an unreported exposure in the past 18 months.