Giese Overcomes Rabies, Heads to College

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Posted: 5:03 AM Aug 30, 2007 Giese Overcomes Rabies, Heads to College A Fon du Lac girl who was bit by a rabid bat three years ago is now off to college.

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Like many other teens, Jeanna Giese admits she's nervous about entering college, starting classes and meeting new friends.

But Giese isn't your average 18-year-old freshman starting out at Marian College near her home in Fond du Lac.

She's a medical marvel who has been studied and chronicled for nearly three years as a one-of-a-kind case since being bitten by a rabid bat. She's the only person known to have survived rabies without vaccination.

Her new classmates, and anyone else who runs into her on the campus will be hard-pressed to tell that she had to relearn how to talk, walk and function after spending time in a coma in a unique treatment that succeeded in saving her.

Doctors report on her progress in today's edition of the New England Journal of Medicine. Mayo Clinic neurologist Dr. Kenneth Mack says she's recovered "remarkably well" and should continue to improve.

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