The final picture of a man who died of rabies after being bitten by a rabid cat in Morocco

Omar Zouhri – the last photo. Photo: Mirrorpix.

This is the final picture of a British man with duel nationality who was bitten by a stray cat in Morocco. His name is Omar Zouhri. The cat happened to be infected with rabies and therefore he became infected.

Regrettably, he did not obtain post exposure treatment for this fatal disease early enough and he struggled towards the end to swallow or breathe. He died in the same hospital his daughter age 4 had passed away 10 years ago.

Omar had bravely battled the disease for months. He was bitten on August 30, 2018 and he died on November 4, 2018. That gives us the sort of timeframe it takes for rabies to kill a person from the initial bite.

I don’t want to be morbid about this but it is rare and therefore interesting to examine as sensitively as possible this case. We are told, incidentally, that two other people died of rabies having been bitten by the same cat. There were two children. I’m not completely sure that that information is correct but we been told it online.

In fact, the information coming out of the news media is rather vague. For instance, Omar’s wife said that he was given a rabies jab and antibiotics in Morocco after the bite. We have also been told that he was given a tetanus jab. Further, we are told that staff at the Stoke Mandeville Hospital in the UK and allegedly advised him to use anti-itching cream on the bite. We don’t know how promptly he was given the usual rabies vaccination jabs after the bite. He was transferred to the John Radcliffe Hospital.

It is possible to successfully deal with a rabies infection provided post exposure prophylaxis (PEP) is given early enough. The jabs cost more than $3,000 in the US incidentally.

Apparently, on November 3, at the UK hospital, he was told that he had two weeks to live but he passed away the next day. Throughout the ordeal he knew that he was dying and was able to talk to and be aware of people around him. He was fearful of water and couldn’t touch cold things. He died in agony we are told although he was sedated. I suspect that that is all they could do for him at that stage.

Source: The Sun and PoC.

Moroccan cat rabies case reminds us prompt PEP (Post Exposure Prophylaxis) can save your life

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Comments

The final picture of a man who died of rabies after being bitten by a rabid cat in Morocco — 5 Comments

Jane on December 15, 2018 at 4:21 pm said:
Hasn’t something gone dreadfully wrong with any humans who get a nip from an undoubtedly scared cat, who demands hysterically that the cat must be killed due to ZOMG!!! TEH RABEEZE!!! ?
Surely, immediate prophylactic shots for the human and humane containment, observation/blood tests of the cat would make rational sense?
I do wonder some times about the sanity of some vets and also the sanity of some people who profess to be cat lovers.
Ignorance & hysteria are friends to no living being
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- Michael Broad on December 15, 2018 at 5:02 pm said:
  Probably like you, Jane, I have read a number of stories about domestic and feral cats attacking for whatever reason a person and then the cat is immediately put down and the brain dissected. It’s my gut feeling but I sense that in America where rabies still exists that people are in general quite fearful or very frightened of the potential of getting rabies and so take what I would consider to be an extreme step. Perhaps they have a completely different attitude towards cats and rabies in America.
  One reason might be because in the UK rabies does not exist therefore we feel protected against it and perhaps as a consequence feel less vulnerable.
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  - Jane on December 16, 2018 at 9:53 pm said:
    As rabies exists, surely the population has even more reason to to be educated and rational? Prophylaxis is the best chance anyone has of surviving.
    Hysteria, does not up the chances of anyone surviving, even if the cat is killed and tests positive. I still think my suggestion is more rational and humane.
    I have spent much time in countries where rabies is endemic. I have witnessed different attitudes to the risk. Much of Europe seems to have embraced the prophylaxis route as routine, but I would guess that health care is often more widely available to all there, unlike the USA.
    Cats do not need anymore mini pogroms than they already are cursed with.
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Albert Schepis on November 14, 2018 at 5:31 pm said:
it is so sad to hear of this poor man suffering this demise. In the U.S. I’m told rabies is nonexistent in cats, but everyone and anyone who gets a nip from a cat orders the cat’s head to be cut off to test for it. I took in a neighbor’s cat that was suffering from something else and it nipped (I was told) the vet at the emergency clinic, whereby she ordered the cat destroyed and tested, against my will… Of course, OF COURSE the cat was not infected and neither was she. She was a complete be eye eee tee sea atche, by the way. A major see you next Tuesday. She didn’t care for the cat (who was docile and almost dead when presented to her) from the moment she was brought in.
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- Irish Cornaire on November 15, 2018 at 8:24 pm said:
  I have to disagree with Albert,just last year we had a rabid cat in my community and was PTS then it was sent to Cornell here in NY to be confirmed it had rabies and it did,it is rare for a cat to have rabies but not uncommon and I’m really sorry for wot ye were put through,same thing happened to my neighbor and it was proven her cat didnt have rabies and then the testing facility charged her for the test,that was wrong.
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