The only person to die of rabies in the United States this year was Army Spc. Kevin Shumaker of Livermore, California. The 24-year-old passed away in a New York hospital of the preventable disease - a disease he contracted breaking up a dog fight while deployed in Afghanistan, according to the Contra Costa Times.
Not surprisingly, Shumaker's parents are questioning why their son died of a treatable disease. Shumaker's mother Elaine Taylor told the Contra Costa Times the Army did not give her son the complete series of injections needed for rabies:
Taylor says Shumaker told her was was only given three of the six injections needed to prevent rabies after he was bitten by a stray dog in Afghanistan. The dog had attacked two other dogs the base had adopted as pets. Shumaker was breaking up the fight when he was bitten.
Jaime Cavazos, a spokesman for Army Medical Command, told the Contra Costa Times the U.S. Central Command is investigating how Shumaker contracted rabies and his "treatment in theatre."
