Recently, a hot search [the wound died after being licked by a dog for 40 days] has aroused widespread discussion and attention among netizens.
Many media misread the incident as [a 9-year-old boy was licked by a dog and died of rabies 40 days later]. Will being licked by a dog lead to rabies?
In fact, such panic is groundless.
Next, let’s talk about [rabies] and [rabies vaccination].
Rabies virus, does it exist in what?
After infection, rabies virus will gradually spread to the central nervous system and various organs in cats and dogs. When hurting people, the virus already exists in the oral mucosa, saliva and even claws of cats and dogs.
Most human rabies cases are caused by bites, while a few are caused by scratches or contamination of wounds and mucosa.
Therefore, the boy was scratched in May and June last year and licked this time, both of which were at risk of rabies virus infection, and the risk of the previous time was even greater.
Do you need to be vaccinated against rabies after being scratched by a dog or licked?
All of them!
Once you have intimate contact with cats and dogs, you should strictly follow the following table:
Note that even scratches, bites and unhealed wounds that do not have obvious bleeding contact with saliva of animals belong to Class II exposure and need rabies vaccine.
However, after the boy contacted the puppy twice, [he did not tell his parents in time] and did not carry out post-exposure disposal in time, which can be said to be the only chance to remove the virus.
How long does it take to feel at ease after being bitten or scratched by cats and dogs?
The incubation period of most rabies cases is 1 ~ 3 months.
However, if the head and face are seriously injured, the disease may occur within 5 days at the shortest.
There are few records of incubation period exceeding one year in the world, so once the injury is clear, the sooner the vaccine is vaccinated, the better.
Vaccination is effective before the onset of the disease, and it is too late when the disease occurs!
Although the boy was only 40 days away from being licked to the wound by the dog on December 30 when he became ill, it was only 7 months away from being scratched by the dog in May and June last year. Both exposures may be infected with rabies virus.
Is it possible to use [ten-day observation]?
The World Health Organization recommends the [10-day observation method], which is of positive significance to the elimination of fears. However, the specific content of the [10-day observation method] refers to:
Vaccination of high-risk animals should be started immediately after exposure, and the health status of injured animals should be continuously observed at the same time.
If the animal is still healthy and alive after 10 days, the human can interrupt the vaccination of the remaining vaccines.
However, in practice, since only one or two doses of vaccine were left after 10 days, it is recommended to vaccinate the whole process. Otherwise, if exposed again, it still needs to be disposed of according to the first exposure, which does more harm than good.
According to news reports, in this incident, when the CDC staff of Weihui County went to the boy’s house to investigate, they actually saw the puppy that licked the boy’s injured finger, indicating that the puppy had survived for at least 40 days after wounding, which completely proved that it could never carry rabies virus and could not spread rabies when licking the boy’s wound more than a month ago.
Therefore, we speculate that the cause of the boy’s rabies was probably scratched by a puppy from May to June last year, or bitten or scratched by other unknown dogs, rather than this [licking].
Which animals need rabies vaccine after being injured?
99% of human rabies in the world is caused by dogs.
Generally speaking, various animals can be divided into the following 4 categories:
High risk: dogs, cats, stray or wild mammals, bats, must be disposed of immediately after injury.
Low risk: cattle, sheep, horses, pigs and other livestock, rabbits, rats and other rodents, generally do not need to carry out post-exposure disposal. If there are low-risk animals in the local rabies or unknown causes of death, it is recommended to carry out timely.
No risk: All animals other than mammals will not suffer from rabies, such as turtles, fish, birds, etc. After injury, the wound needs to be treated, but rabies vaccine is not required.
Special case: Human beings belong to low-risk animals. Ordinary contact does not need to be disposed of. Close contact with rabies patients is disposed of as high-risk.
After being injured, I was vaccinated against rabies. What if I was injured again?
If the rabies vaccine has been vaccinated in the whole process after the previous injury, the rabies immunoglobulin does not need to be vaccinated again after the injury, but the number of times the rabies vaccine needs to be vaccinated depends on the time when the injury is away from the previous whole process.
Can preventive rabies vaccination be carried out in advance?
Of course!
Preventive rabies vaccination is recommended for all people who are continuously and frequently exposed to the dangerous environment of rabies virus. Laboratory staff exposed to rabies virus, medical staff managing rabies patients, close contacts of rabies patients, veterinarians, animal trainers and agricultural college students who often come into contact with animals are recommended.
The inoculation procedure is to inoculate 1 dose on day 0, day 7 and day 21 (or day 28) respectively. One dose after one year; After that, one dose of inoculation will be strengthened every 3-5 years.
What are the hazards of stray cats and dogs?
China is a high-risk area for rabies, with vast territory, complicated situation, low vaccination rate of animals, large number of various ownerless dogs and stray dogs, and they:
Rabies vaccination history is unknown, or there has never been a vaccination history;
Carrying a variety of viruses and bacteria, it is difficult to keep clean;
Wounding behavior is often very sudden and cannot be prevented.
After wounding people, they fled and could not continuously observe their health.
Finally, I give you a poem:
Stay away from stray dogs and watch your baby.
Disposal is not standardized, relatives two lines of tears.