Dear Lactnetters, Thanks to one and all who answered my SOS query last week
about the mom exclusively breastfeeding 3 month old, mom was bitten by mouse
and had questioned about continuing nursing while getting rabies series
and possibility of passing other diseases to baby via BM.

In the meantime, I heard that last year in Israel, a soldier had been
bitten by a rodent, was not given the rabies series, and subsequently
died of rabies. I called the mom last night, figuring that the dust had
settled and mom was under less pressure. Several things came to light:

(1) mom is a nurse at the hospital that cared for the soldier who died of
rabies, and it seems that it was a *badger* who bit him and not a rodent
(among us: lordy, if a badger bit me or one of my family, I would turn
the world upside down until given the anti-rabies series!!!!);
(2) Mom went to the Ministry of Health near her to get the rabies series,
but was told that "rabies cannot be passed by rodents", so she does NOT
have to have the rabies series.

I became quite distressed by (2) and called my vet to see if this were
true, and of course it is not. What *is* true apparently is that there has
never been a case reported of rabies being passed to a human via a rodent
(hardly the same thing as what we were told both by her Ministry of
Health office and mine), and for this reason, they do not give the rabies
series.

In any case, stopping breastfeeding was NOT advised and NOT done. Mom is
still happily breastfeeding (and crossing her fingers).

I would be very happy to receive any comments, but please at my private
address as I am still NOMAIL. TIA

Judy Knopf in Israel
[log in to unmask]