Everything you want to know about rabies vaccination is here!

Everything you want to know about rabies vaccination is here!

Author: Zheng Xiaohong, deputy chief physician of Yingshan County Center for Disease Control and Prevention

People who work in immunization programs and rabies clinics know that:

Every day and night, calls about rabies vaccinations come one after another...

Why do calls about rabies vaccinations exceed those about other vaccinations?

Because everyone knows that rabies is an infectious disease with a very high mortality rate in the world.

Once clinical symptoms appear after infection, the mortality rate is almost 100% . The key is that there is currently no effective treatment.

Therefore, once there is a risk of rabies exposure, everyone will naturally pay special attention to it, and various problems related to rabies vaccination will follow...

1 Question: "Doctor, if I am bitten by a dog/cat/hamster/snake/rabbit/bat/, do I need to get a rabies vaccine?"

2. Question: "Doctor, my child was bitten by a classmate, and the classmate was bitten by a dog. Does he need to get a rabies vaccine?"

Answer: "There are many kinds of animals, and not every animal needs to be vaccinated against rabies after causing an injury. However, high-risk animals such as dogs, cats, and bats must be vaccinated against rabies in a timely manner after causing an injury, and rabies immunoglobulin or serum must be injected if necessary. (Exposure to bats is a level 3 exposure, which requires rabies vaccine and injection of rabies immunoglobulin or serum.) "

Generally, there is no need for rabies vaccination when a person bites another, unless the person who bites is in the rabies stage .

Animals that may present a risk of rabies are listed in the table below.

Question 3: "Doctor, if a pregnant woman is bitten by a dog or cat, can she get a rabies vaccine?"

Answer: "At present, all human rabies vaccines in China are inactivated vaccines, which are highly purified during the production process. There is no live virus in the vaccine , nor does it contain more than 100 known components that can cause fetal teratogenicity, tumorigenicity, and mutagenicity . Therefore, it will not cause teratogenicity to the fetus. There is no contraindication to rabies vaccination for pregnant women who have been exposed to rabies virus."

4. Question: "Doctor, I just got the rabies vaccine two months ago. I was bitten by a dog again today. Do I need to get the rabies vaccine?"

Answer: "After the previous rabies vaccination: those who have been fully vaccinated for more than 1 year need to be fully vaccinated, and do not need to be injected with anti-rabies immunoglobulin; those who have been fully vaccinated for less than 1 year only need to be vaccinated with 2 doses of vaccine, and do not need to be injected with anti-rabies immunoglobulin. (If the manufacturer's vaccine instructions have changed, the vaccine instructions shall prevail.)"

5. Question: "Doctor, I just got the COVID-19 vaccine, and I was bitten by a dog today. Can I get the rabies vaccine?"

Answer: "Rabies vaccine is an inactivated vaccine and does not have a strict time interval requirement with other vaccinations ."

Question 6: "Doctor, do the five rabies vaccinations have to be from the same manufacturer?"

Answer: " WHO recommends that different brands of rabies vaccines should not be mixed during the entire vaccination process . When encountering unavoidable circumstances, different brands of vaccines can be used instead."

Question 7: "Doctor, I was bitten by a dog and I am very far away from the rabies vaccination site. What can I do first?"

A: " Immediately flush the wound with running water , 20% soapy water or water containing detergent for at least 15 minutes (treat it as soon as possible, the sooner the better); then disinfect it with alcohol (75%) or iodine tincture; then go to the rabies vaccination site as soon as possible to get the rabies vaccine."

Question 8: "Doctor, I was bitten by my own dog, but my dog ​​gets rabies vaccine every year. Do I still need to get rabies vaccine?"

Answer: "Since it is impossible to evaluate the immune effect of rabies vaccination for every animal, it is recommended that you still get vaccinated against rabies."

Question 9: "Doctor, if a dog bite is not treated promptly, how should I deal with the vaccination?"

A: "WHO recommends that wounds should be treated and vaccines administered as if they were newly injured at all times, and that wounds that have already healed should no longer be treated."

Q10: "If I don't get the anti-rabies immunoglobulin or anti-rabies serum in time, can I get it later?"

Answer: "If the first dose of rabies vaccination has been administered more than 7 days after the injury, there is no need to use anti-rabies immunoglobulin or anti-rabies serum."

11. Question: "Doctor, I was delayed by something and did not get the rabies vaccine as scheduled. When should I get the next shot?"

Answer: "Rabies vaccination should be completed on time . Correct vaccination according to the procedure is critical for the body to develop anti-rabies immunity. The first three shots are crucial! If one shot is delayed for one or several days, the subsequent shots will be postponed accordingly according to the time interval of the original vaccination schedule."

Q12: "Doctor, what are the possible adverse reactions after receiving rabies vaccine?"

Answer: " Within 24 hours after receiving the rabies vaccine , the injection site may experience redness, swelling, pain, and itching , which generally resolve on their own without treatment. There may also be mild fever, weakness, headache, dizziness, joint pain, muscle pain, vomiting, abdominal pain, etc., which generally resolve on their own without treatment. However, if special circumstances occur, you should go to the hospital for treatment in time ."

12 questions about rabies vaccination are the most frequently asked questions in the 12 years since I started working in immunization planning. The answers to each question refer to the Technical Guidelines for Rabies Prevention and Control (2016 Edition) and the content of expert lectures. I have now collected and summarized them, hoping that they will be helpful to everyone.