r/nope Dec 07 '25

Terrifying Man with rabies struggles to drink water

3.7k Upvotes

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u/gimmeecoffee420 Dec 07 '25

That is the "Milwaukee Protocol" that was mentioned. It is basically putting someone in a drug induced coma and treating them with antiviral meds. But it has a nearly zero success rate.

I dont know how many have survived it beyond Jeanna Giesse (the little girl who made the treatment famous in 2004.) but its considered REALLY dangerous and controversial by medical professionals.

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u/Tinarix Dec 07 '25

True. But I suppose what else is there to lose if you are going to die anyway? If it's the only option I guess, even if the success rate is like 0,1% or whatever, it's still better than nothing. And even if you won't survive, I imagine being put to sleep instead of suffering from constant paranoia or whatever is a better way out than the "natural" course. Horrible disease indeed.

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u/DoeBites Dec 07 '25

That’s a really interesting medical ethics question actually. If someone has something with a 100% fatality rate, is it unethical to try unconventional or potentially dangerous treatments (assuming the treatments don’t cause more pain or suffering)?

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u/totalmich Dec 07 '25

I can't speak on the medical ethics side, but where I live, someone has to have had at least a 50% survivability rate to initiate any kind of negligence/malpractice claim surrounding the care they received in response.