Will you definitely die if you get rabies

The mortality rate of rabies is very high. Many people are afraid of rabies and think that rabies will definitely occur. In fact, this is not the case. Rabies has an incubation period. After being bitten by a wild stray animal, the patient needs to go to the hospital for a rabies vaccine injection. After the injection, the incidence of rabies can be reduced, and at the same time, it can help clear the virus carried in our body.

Is rabies really that scary?

Rabies, also known as hydrophobia, is an acute zoonotic infectious disease caused by the rabies virus. Rabies virus is mainly transmitted between animals. The main sources of rabies are dogs, cats, pigs, cattle and horses carrying the rabies virus. The disease is mainly transmitted through the rabies virus in the saliva of animals that invade the human body when they bite people. Once rabies occurs, it progresses very quickly, mostly within 3-5 days, rarely exceeding 10 days, and the mortality rate is 100%.

Whether or not you contract rabies after being bitten by a dog is affected by many factors:

1. Whether the dog that bites the person is carrying the rabies virus.

2. The degree of wound exposure.

3. Treatment of exposed wounds.

4. Injection of rabies vaccine and rabies immunoglobulin.

Being bitten by a dog does not necessarily lead to rabies. If the dog that bites a person does not carry the rabies virus, the person will not get rabies even if the wound is not treated. Some scholars have found through statistics that even if people are bitten by a real rabid dog or other crazy animal and do not take any preventive measures, only 30%-70% of them will develop the disease.

The main source of rabies in my country is sick dogs. Some seemingly healthy dogs may carry the virus in their saliva, with a virus carrier rate of up to 22.4%, and can also spread rabies. There is currently no method to detect whether dogs are carrying the virus. Therefore, if you are bitten or scratched by a pet such as a dog or cat, the wound should be cleaned immediately.

The severity of the bite affects whether the person bitten becomes ill. Large-area deep bites are more likely to cause disease than small superficial wounds; multiple bites are also more likely to cause disease than single-part bites, and the incubation period is shorter.

Wound treatment: ① Squeeze the wound: try your best to squeeze out the bleeding or use cupping to remove the poison. Avoid sucking the wound with your mouth to prevent oral mucosal infection; ② Rinse the wound: rinse repeatedly with 20% soapy water or 0.1% chlorhexidine for at least 15 minutes. Quaternary amines and soapy water cannot be used together; ③ Disinfect the wound: scrub with 70% alcohol and repeatedly apply concentrated iodine; in principle, local wounds are not sutured, bandaged, applied with ointment, or powder to facilitate wound detoxification. If the head and face are injured, or the wound is large and deep, and the large blood vessels are injured and need to be sutured and bandaged, it should be based on not hindering drainage and ensuring adequate flushing and disinfection. The rabies immunoglobulin can be sutured 2 hours after local infiltration injection, and tetanus antitoxin can be used at the same time. Rabies vaccination should be given after wound treatment.

Post-exposure prophylaxis: A total of 5 injections, 1 dose of rabies vaccine each on days 0 (the day of injection), 3, 7, 14, and 28 (the same dose for children). The full course of rabies vaccination must be completed on time. If the full course of vaccination is not completed, sufficient anti-rabies immunity cannot be guaranteed and the effectiveness of rabies prevention cannot be guaranteed. Rabies vaccine is given as one dose regardless of weight and age.

For those who have received full immunization within six months, if suspected infection occurs, there is no need to inject rabies vaccine again; for those who have received full immunization more than six months ago but within one year, if suspected infection occurs, only one intramuscular injection is required on days 0 and 3. If the immunization lasts for more than one year but less than three years, one intramuscular injection is required on days 0, 3, and 7. If the immunization lasts for more than three years, a full course of immunization is required.

If the injection is given more than 48 hours after the bite, it is recommended to double the first dose. At the same time as the rabies vaccine is injected, rabies immunoglobulin should be injected for those with bleeding wounds or for those with no bleeding wounds but low immune function. Correct and timely treatment of wounds after being bitten is the first line of defense against rabies. If the wound is properly treated and anti-rabies post-exposure treatment (vaccination and immunoglobulin) is given in a timely manner, the risk of disease can be greatly reduced.