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A Whitby Island resident is receiving treatment after being bitten by a rabid bat. This is the fourth case of a Washington state resident bitten by a rabid bat this year, authorities said.
Island County authorities said a Whitby resident was being treated and recovering after being bitten by a rabid bat on the 1st. Another resident also reported seeing a large bat outside his house that day.
The state Department of Health (DOH) warns that bats are the only mammals in Washington that transmit rabies to other animals and people, and that a bite from one of these bats can be a life threatening.
DOH emphasized that any area bitten or touched by a bat should be washed with soap and get medical attention immediately, and urged people not to touch or approach wild animals, including bats. In particular, he emphasized to children that if they see a bat, they must tell an adult and be careful not to touch the carcass. In addition, authorities said that pets such as dogs, cats and pheasants should not be vaccinated against rabies.
Anyone who sees a wild animal or its carcass can report it to the state Department of Fish and Wildlife.

Women who have been treated for colon cancer or who have a first-degree relative have a high risk of developing gynecological cancers such as endometrial cancer and ovarian cancer.

Some colon cancer patients have ‘Lynch Syndrome’, and women with this syndrome are at increased risk of developing gynecological cancers such as endometrial and ovarian cancer.

Lynch syndrome is an inherited cancer syndrome that occurs when parents inherit mutations in genes (MLH1, MSH2, MSH6, PMS1, PMS2) that repair damage that occurs during replication DNA in it. Because it is an autosomal recessive inheritance, if one parent has a genetic mutation, there is a 50% chance of it being passed on to the child, and the risk of developing cancer increases compared to people with not Lynch syndrome.

Men with a genetic mutation associated with Lynch syndrome have a 60-80% risk of developing colon cancer, while women have a 40-60% risk. Women have a particularly high risk of developing endometrial cancer at 40-60% and ovarian cancer at 5-20%.

Park Byeong-kwan, professor of colorectal surgery at Chung-Ang University Hospital, said, “When a germline gene transfer test or immunohistochemistry (IHC) is performed on patients with colon cancer, it is found that 2 to 4% of them with Lynch syndrome. ” He said, “If there is a patient in the family with colon cancer, “If cancers associated with Lynch syndrome are found such as endometrial cancer, stomach cancer, ovarian cancer, pancreatic cancer, ureteral cancer, bile duct cancer, and brain tumor. , Lynch syndrome needs to be diagnosed,” he said.

Professor Park said, “Among people who have not been diagnosed with cancer, it is recommended that patients with Lynch syndrome receive a colonoscopy every 1 to 2 years because colon polyps are known to progress quickly to cancer.”

When cancer is diagnosed, genetic mutations can be screened using tissue immunoassays or next generation using cancer tissue or blood.

High-risk groups for suspected Lynch syndrome are those diagnosed with colon cancer under the age of 50, who have three or more colon cancer patients in the same household, or diagnosed with co- associated with Lynch syndrome. Lynch syndrome can be diagnosed through an immunohistochemical test using a cancer tissue and a microsatellite instability test (MSI), a detailed genetic test.

There are still no accurate research reports on how many genetic mutations associated with Lynch syndrome exist in Korean women.

According to a research paper published in an international academic journal in 2021 by a research team led by Professor Eunjoo Lee from the Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology at Chung-Ang University Hospital Cancer Center, 20 types of mutations were found in the genes associated with Lynch syndrome in 25 women with endometrial cancer.

In addition, according to a domestic case in which endometrial cancer was diagnosed 6 years after colon cancer in Lynch syndrome published by the Korean Society of Obstetrics and Gynecology, a 36-year-old woman was diagnosed with endometrial cancer and underwent underwent surgery 6 years later. undergoing surgery for colon cancer. As a result of genetic testing after developing colon cancer, this woman was found to have a genetic sequence mutation (MSH2) consistent with Lynch syndrome.

Daeik Kwon, medical expert Reporter >