Sunday 5 July 2009

(froth, froth, bite)

Things have not gone entirely to plan, I was happily working on the small mammal trapping when I picked up a freya trap made of a wire mesh and a spiny pocket mouse stuck its nose through and bit my finger. I wasn't initially worried, I calmly went back to camp and talked to the medic, then things got dodgy.

There was no direct radio link to base camp so everything had to be relayed by the repeater where a man sat up on the ridge with two radios.  In order the advice was.
- You need to go to Cofradia for a rabies booster
- A rabies booster is being sent out to Cantiles, stay put
- There are no vaccines, go to base camp for an explanation

I raced back to base camp and was told that it is policy not to give a booster after each bite but only at the end of the season.  This is based on the fact that rabies is very rare in rodents and that the bat scientist has done the same thing for years. Despite this and the fact I had the vaccinations, I have to admit, I'm terrified by the thought of risking it so I insisted on being taken to hospital, where they didn't have any booster shots but promised to send one up to camp tomorrow.

In other news, Nicaraguan troops are moving near the border but I only have time for one panic at a time.

Seriously though this place is beautiful, the work is great fun and I will survive to annoy everyone with stories about this.

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