Rabid Religious Fervor

by Jordan Yerman | April 18, 2007 at 09:22 am

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Flagellant contracts rabies, shares blade.

Flagellation, self-mutilation and crucifixion re-enactments are widely practiced around the world, but such activities carry risks beyond the obvious: rabies is transmitted though blood infection. The frightening element here is the waiting: rabies can take weeks, even years, to show up.

Dozens of men who whipped and cut their backs for a gory Good Friday ceremony in the Philippines risk contracting rabies after a fellow flagellant died of the virus earlier this month.

The men shared a blade to rip their skin before flaying it to a pulp with a bamboo whip in the northern province of Pampanga. The ritual, which also involves voluntary crucifixions, is meant to mark the suffering of Jesus Christ.

Dr Maria Clara Aquino, a government doctor in Pampanga, said on Tuesday that anti-rabies vaccines had been give to 103 people who could have been exposed to the virus.

Rabies is usually transmitted by a bite from an infected animal. The period between infection and the first flu-like symptoms is normally 3 to 12 weeks but can be as long as two years.