Don't provoke big rats

A 21-year-old kid came in today telling us a rat had bit him in the leg. Last I knew, rats didn't just up and bite people when walking through a public park. But then again, I've only lived in Port Huron for a week and a half. Well, I guess this guy provoked the rat first. He says it was a big rat. After it bit him, he found a big stick and killed the rat that bit him. He said if he was going to get rabies, he was taking the crazy rat down with him. We were getting all ready to treat this guy for possible rabies exposure when I actually looked it up (because I was told to look up the protocol for rabies immunoglobulin) and I found that you don't prophylax against rabies with rats. The CDC says there's a ZERO chance of getting rabies from rats. There's been one report of rabies in the united states in the last year, and it was from a raccoon. Yup, so the crazy kid went on his way with 10 days of antibiotics. And no worries of rabies.