Dog bite/rabies shots

[Spaniel]

Last week my friend was bitten by his neighbors dog.     Not a serious bite and the neighbor showed my friend that his dog had the rabies shots.      Anyway my friend went and got the first and second shots.      Since the dog had the rabies shot and after a few days showed no signs  of rabies my friend decided to not get the remaining two shots.     He and the dog are both ok.     Of course had he been bitten by a rat or stray dog that he could not track then he would have gotten the rabies series  of shots.     So  it seems pretty logical if the animal shows no rabid signs after a few days then dicontinuing the series would be ok?

[sanuk21]

WHO states "If the dog is properly vaccinated against rabies and the efficacy of the vaccine is confirmed by laboratory evidence no vaccination is required."

 

If the dog had rabies he would usually be dead in 7 days though quarantine is 10 days.

 

So you friend did the right thing in seeking medical advice.

 

Sounds like he maybe didn't have human rabies immunoglobulin (HRIG) though, if he has only had two shots so far. 

 

The rabies vaccination regime can be days 0, 3, 7 and 14-28 , so looks like he is looking to forego the last two shots required on days 7 and 14-28.

 

Personally I would have the remaining two shots as this would provide protection against any future bites. Though he would still need to have two shots of rabies vaccine but not the full 4 shot course regime and the HRIG, if bitten again.

 

http://www.who.int/rabies/resources/SEA_CD_278_FAQs_Rabies.pdf

http://www.who.int/ith/vaccines/rabies/en/

Edited September 5, 2018 by sanuk21
typo

[Sheryl]

Need to observe an animal for at least 10 days to rule out rabies as that is how long the interval between shedding the virus in the saliva and first showing symptoms can be.

 

Sent from my SM-J701F using Thailand Forum - Thaivisa mobile app

 

 

 

 

[sanuk21]

7 hours ago, sanuk21 said:

WHO states "If the dog is properly vaccinated against rabies and the efficacy of the vaccine is confirmed by laboratory evidence no vaccination is required."

 

If the dog had rabies he would usually be dead in 7 days though quarantine is 10 days.

 

So you friend did the right thing in seeking medical advice.

 

Sounds like he maybe didn't have human rabies immunoglobulin (HRIG) though, if he has only had two shots so far. 

 

The rabies vaccination regime can be days 0, 3, 7 and 14-28 , so looks like he is looking to forego the last two shots required on days 7 and 14-28.

 

Personally I would have the remaining two shots as this would provide protection against any future bites. Though he would still need to have two shots of rabies vaccine but not the full 4 shot course regime and the HRIG, if bitten again.

 

http://www.who.int/rabies/resources/SEA_CD_278_FAQs_Rabies.pdf

http://www.who.int/ith/vaccines/rabies/en/

Sheryl is right of course!

 

In this case it was not my intention to infer that your friend should stop his treatment. He should continue until the dog is out of the 10 day observation (quarantine) period.

 

Here is an interesting study from Queen Saovabha Memorial Institute Bangkok on the outcomes of 1820 dogs suspected of having rabies 1985–2002.

 

Of the dogs that died of rabies (935) 100% died after 10 days which supports the 10 day observation period.

 

What I find surprising is that 21% or 379 of the 1820 dogs quarantined died from other causes than rabies. This would surely be a cause of some unfounded worry with bite victims.

 

 

https://academic.oup.com/cid/article/39/2/278/328860

 

 

Edited September 5, 2018 by sanuk21
typo