If you are bitten by an animal (such as a dog, cat, wolf, etc.) and you are not sure whether the animal is healthy and non-toxic, you should go to the hospital to treat the wound in time, or first clean the wound repeatedly and thoroughly with soapy water on your own, so that most of the invading virus can be washed away, and then go to the health prevention department as soon as possible for rabies vaccination. For severe bites, in addition to thorough local cleaning and disinfection, rabies serum infiltration injection should be applied around the wound. This should be followed by rabies vaccination. The bite wound should not be bandaged and sutured, leaving the wound exposed as much as possible. The immune effect of rabies vaccination is directly related to the timing of the injection. The earlier the injection is given after the bite, the better the immunization effect and the greater the chance of obtaining protection. (The first dose of rabies vaccine must be given within 24 hours of the bite, for a total of 5 doses, within one month.) What are the contraindications to rabies vaccination? Since rabies is a fatal disease with an almost 100% mortality rate after the onset of the disease, there is still no effective treatment method in the world so far. Therefore, any bite by a rabid dog or an animal that is not known to be poisonous should be immediately followed by rabies vaccination. Pregnant women who are bitten should also receive the rabies vaccine promptly throughout the process. There are no contraindications to rabies vaccination. If the skin is not injured after an animal bite, but there are only tooth marks on the skin, it is difficult for the rabies virus to invade the body through the intact skin as long as the skin is not broken after being bitten or scratched by animals such as dogs, cats, wolves, etc. However, if there are tooth marks on the skin, you cannot be paralyzed. Sometimes, although the skin damage is not visible, the tooth marks actually mean that the skin damage is imperceptible to the naked eye. In this case, the rabies virus may invade the body along with the tooth marks. Therefore, the bite site should be disinfected immediately by thoroughly washing the site with soapy water and applying iodine, followed by a full rabies vaccination. Can rabies occur after being bitten by a rabid animal without rabies vaccination? Rabies does not always occur after being bitten by a rabid animal and not receiving the rabies vaccine. The occurrence of rabies is directly related to the type of animal that bites, the virulence of the virus strain contained, the amount of virus that enters the human body, the age of the injured person, the physical condition, the site of the bite, the severity of the injury, and the local treatment of the wound after the bite. V. Do I still need to be vaccinated after being bitten again after vaccination? After being bitten or scratched by an animal, the rabies vaccine is injected throughout the whole process, at which time the body produces anti-rabies antibodies, but this effective antibody maintenance time is short, if this bite is within 3-4 months from the previous vaccination, a booster of 2 shots is sufficient. If it has been more than 6 months, it should be reinjected again in its entirety. During the rabies vaccination period, alcohol, strong tea and spicy stimulating foods should be avoided, and strenuous exercise should be avoided.
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