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The Florida Everglades are known for their exotic landscapes and invasive pythons. But kittens? Thanks to a compassionate biologist and stray animals, this is perhaps the most expensive risk for the region.
In a rural area near Florida's Everglades National Park in Key West, Florida, 44-year-old resident Jeannette Parke saw the stray cat along the road, NPR reported. He looked skinny and sick, and when Parker, a wildlife biologist, offered the tuna that she had in her car, the cat bit her finger.
"It broke my skin with her teeth," she told NPR.
And if it was another cat, in another part of South Florida, that might have been the end. But no.
Instead, after cleaning up the wound and doing some research, Parker found himself in the emergency room of Mariners Hospital because Miami-Dade County had recently issued warnings rabies, a life-threatening disease.
After two hours, a few injections and an antibiotic, but not with a doctor, Parker returned home "happy as a clam," according to the report titled "Bill of the Month" by NPR.
Then she got the bill: $ 48,512.
Of this total, $ 46,422 was allocated to a preventive medicine.
According to NPR, the cost of post-exposure "anti-rabies preventive treatment," which includes immunoglobulin and four doses of vaccine administered over a two-week period, typically costs more than $ 3,000 on average. Each hospital can set its own prices for treatment. "
In the case of Parker, most of the cost was rabies immunoglobulin, reported NPR. Parker of course felt that it seemed high. She was not wrong.
"I've never heard anything so high for immunoglobulin," said Charles Rupprecht, independent biomedical consultant, technical advisor for rabies at the World Health Organization, which directed the CDC's rabies control program for 20 years. "How is it possible?"
Find out by reading the full functionality of NPR: Cat bites the hand that feeds; Hospital bills $ 48,512.
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