Rabies vaccine is in short supply! Experts tell you whether you must get rabies vaccine if you are bitten by an animal!
There have been news reports in the past two days that the supply of rabies vaccines in some areas is tight. This situation has indeed existed for some time. Usually, when we get rabies vaccine, it must be bitten by an animal, licked the wound, or scratched. Once such a thing happens, the first thing that everyone thinks of is to prevent rabies, and they are very afraid.
In order to ease everyone's tension, Dr. Long analyzed several questions today for your reference:
- Do you have to be vaccinated against rabies if you are bitten?
Not long ago, a patient was bitten by a cat while feeding his cat at home. He asked me what should I do?
His cat has been vaccinated against rabies and usually does not go out. Considering the secondary exposure to rabies virus, it is recommended to vaccinate against rabies.
After the patient came to the CDC, he was told that there was no rabies vaccine, so he went to other places and finally got two doses of rabies vaccine.
Ten days later, the patient asked me again, because the rabies vaccine could not be found, so I only had two shots, and asked me if I could not get the rabies vaccine.
I asked if his cat was still healthy and he said his cat was normal and not sick.
After ten days, if the cat is normal, it proves that the cat was not infected with rabies virus when it bites, so the latter can really not be beaten.
- Rabies vaccine is so in short supply, what is the principle of its prevention?
Rabies vaccine is actually made from the protein of rabies virus. This protein has no infectivity, but it can stimulate the human body to produce the same antibodies. The principle of prevention is similar to that of other viral infectious disease vaccines.
After the rabies vaccine is injected, specific antibodies will be produced, which can remove and neutralize the virus that may enter the human body, thereby preventing rabies.
- Why should the rabies vaccine be administered after the bite, can it not be administered before the bite?
Can also hit.
However, this is not recommended due to cost-effectiveness and adverse effects.
Antibodies generated after rabies vaccine injection have a relatively short maintenance time. Timely cleaning of the wound and injection of rabies vaccine after a bite, or injection of rabies immune globulin (in case of tertiary exposure) when necessary, can completely prevent rabies.
- Do all animal bites require rabies vaccination?
no.
The vast majority of rabies is caused by dog or cat bites, some of which are related to bats, such as being bitten by mice, squirrels, rabbits, etc. Direct injection of rabies vaccine is not recommended.
- Do I only need rabies vaccine after animal bites?
After a cat or dog is bitten, the role of rabies vaccine is to prevent rabies, but not to prevent wound infection and tetanus. If it is a deep wound, it is also necessary to have a tetanus shot.
Wound management is an important way to prevent other bacterial infections of the wound, including cleaning (washing with soap and water), disinfection (povidone-iodine or 2% benzalkonium chloride), and dressing.