Dog Bite in Kathu - injections?

[1234asdf]

Had a dog bite today whilst riding a motorbike along a dirt path. It's not a serious bite (hardly broke the skin) but worried about rabies. I know where the dog lives and spoke to the 'owner', he said it was a private road (no signs that I could see) and that the dog is not his, that it was a jungle dog when he came there 4 months ago. Standard responses to absolve him of any responsibility, which may or may not be true. Dog seemed pretty normal and I guess the bite wasn't totally unprovoked if I was indeed driving down a private road where the dog isn't used to strangers.

Googled a bit and found

"Phuket is rabies free"

"there have only been 3 deaths from rabies in all of Thailand last year"

"rabies has a 100% fatality rate"

I think I'll be getting the shots unless answers to this thread are overwhelming in advice not to.

I looked up cost on various forums and it ranged from 50-600 baht a shot. I don't care much about waiting times or English-speaking nurses - anybody know the cheapest place in and around Phuket Town/Kathu/Patong?

[johnatong]

You should seek medical advice ASAP.

Cheapest would be at one of the Government hospitals. (Waiting time at the Patong hospital is not overly long)

You may also need a Tetanus booster ( or course ).

[2fishin2]

Seek medical advice immediately.

[1234asdf]

Alright I'll go over there now. Hopefully quiet at this time.

[Denim]

Seriously.......600 baht for peace of mind. Not even one nights decent bender. Probably not going to be a problem but IF it was otherwise you would surely beat yourself up for not playing safe. You are not a cat and you don't have 9 lives. Pay up and live long.

[Farma]

Just get them done. Better safe than sorry.

I had a series about 6 months ago and its painless.A mossie bite hurts more.

There were 4 jabs on my first visit. 1 in each forearm and 1 in each shoulder. Then 1 in each shoulder for 2 more visits. The Dr decided I didn't need the 30 day shots.

[johnatong]

Just get them done. Better safe than sorry.

I had a series about 6 months ago and its painless.A mossie bite hurts more.

There were 4 jabs on my first visit. 1 in each forearm and 1 in each shoulder. Then 1 in each shoulder for 2 more visits. The Dr decided I didn't need the 30 day shots.

Which 30 day shots are you talking about ?

Links please to reliable information like this:- http://www.who.int/rabies/human/postexp/en/

Edited April 4, 2016 by johnatong

[Farma]

The card they gave me which I don't have with me at the moment lists 2 types of vaccinations. It then lists the dates for jabs with a final one at 28 or 30 days.

This is a post I made 08NOV15 just after the injections.

I've just had a series of post exposure jabs. First was 2 jabs (1 in each shoulder) + 2 allergy jabs (1 in each forearm.)

Then 2 follow up jabs a couple of days later

A week later another 2 jabs.

There is an option of a further 2 booster jabs at 28 days but the Dr didn't think I needed them.

The jabs are painless and no after effects for me. I believe prices vary dependent on your weight. 2 x jabs cost me 400 B at a govt hospital.

Edited April 4, 2016 by Farma

[1234asdf]

It cost 3300 baht and I'm 70kg. 4 more jabs to go.

My best guess is they've jabbed me for tetanus as well because I had about 5 injections and 2 of those were in my arse.

I told the doctor I'd already been vaccinated for tetanus when she asked me if I'd been vaccinated for rabies, even though she didn't ask. And I queried it before paying but they assured me it was for only one jab and for rabies and that it really was that expensive (I thought at the time they were charging me for all 5 rabies jabs which would be about right at 5 x 500 baht plus extras).

So what can you do, refuse to pay it and just settle the bill for the initial vaccination and trek across Phuket to another hospital and try your luck there? No matter how cautious you are and how much research you do beforehand, there always seems to be a subtle scam.

On a side note I could sit all day in the emergency room watching people come in and out. It's absorbing in a morbid sort of way. All the smokers and heavy drinkers on Thaivisa should do it, a few hours watching overweight farang coming off ambulances on trolleys with heart and chest problems, then the emergency beeep beeep beeep sound as they go into some sort of cardiac arrest or have a heart attack. They'd never smoke or drink again.

[johnatong]

It cost 3300 baht and I'm 70kg. 4 more jabs to go.

My best guess is they've jabbed me for tetanus as well because I had about 5 injections and 2 of those were in my arse.

I told the doctor I'd already been vaccinated for tetanus when she asked me if I'd been vaccinated for rabies, even though she didn't ask. And I queried it before paying but they assured me it was for only one jab and for rabies and that it really was that expensive (I thought at the time they were charging me for all 5 rabies jabs which would be about right at 5 x 500 baht plus extras).

So what can you do, refuse to pay it and just settle the bill for the initial vaccination and trek across Phuket to another hospital and try your luck there? No matter how cautious you are and how much research you do beforehand, there always seems to be a subtle scam.

On a side note I could sit all day in the emergency room watching people come in and out. It's absorbing in a morbid sort of way. All the smokers and heavy drinkers on Thaivisa should do it, a few hours watching overweight farang coming off ambulances on trolleys with heart and chest problems, then the emergency beeep beeep beeep sound as they go into some sort of cardiac arrest or have a heart attack. They'd never smoke or drink again.

Did you receive an itemised bill ?

Why are people always claiming to be the victims of a "scam" ?

[1234asdf]

Yes. There's no chance of reading it though because the handwriting is so bad.

What would you call it if not 'scam'? It's misselling and it's dishonest. I couldn't have been any more clear about having already had the tetanus injection even though nobody bothered to ask me.

Maybe people are always complaining because they always are 'victims'. Fire makes smoke.

[johnatong]

Yes. There's no chance of reading it though because the handwriting is so bad.

What would you call it if not 'scam'? It's misselling and it's dishonest. I couldn't have been any more clear about having already had the tetanus injection even though nobody bothered to ask me.

Maybe people are always complaining because they always are 'victims'. Fire makes smoke.

Maybe you should have refused treatment until you where informed of the exact cost. You could then have accepted or refused and gone elsewhere for the "jabs" .

If you went to Patong hospital then I have, on occasion, used that place. I have never been "missold" and the bill was computer generated and legible.

Guess you will be seeking a "cheaper" non "scam" place for the remaining "jabs" you will need.

[1234asdf]

I didn't receive any treatment until I got the cost, apart from an initial vaccination which is the thing that you get before you start the rabies jabs.

Yes I could exercise my right to go somewhere else where I may or may not have got a lower price but by this time it'd already been about 6 hours since the bite and I have no idea what government hospitals are still open at 11pm at night or where they are (I don't live here). Of course that isn't their problem though, they can charge whatever they like and I can decide whether to pay it.

The problem is that had they told me what I was actually buying, I would have refused to buy it and/or gone elsewhere. Because I did not need or want what they gave me, and I had told them that. There was no miscommunication, the doctor could speak English fine. The same doctor then wrote the notes for the pharmacy to prescribe me the jabs.

You go into a shop and ask for bread, and say you do not want milk. The shopkeeper sells you the bread and puts a bottle of milk inside the bag but doesn't tell you. And then charges you for both. That's okay in your world, right?

I'm off to bed.

[johnatong]

I didn't receive any treatment until I got the cost, apart from an initial vaccination which is the thing that you get before you start the rabies jabs.

Yes I could exercise my right to go somewhere else where I may or may not have got a lower price but by this time it'd already been about 6 hours since the bite and I have no idea what government hospitals are still open at 11pm at night or where they are (I don't live here). Of course that isn't their problem though, they can charge whatever they like and I can decide whether to pay it.

The problem is that had they told me what I was actually buying, I would have refused to buy it and/or gone elsewhere. Because I did not need or want what they gave me, and I had told them that. There was no miscommunication, the doctor could speak English fine. The same doctor then wrote the notes for the pharmacy to prescribe me the jabs.

You go into a shop and ask for bread, and say you do not want milk. The shopkeeper sells you the bread and puts a bottle of milk inside the bag but doesn't tell you. And then charges you for both. That's okay in your world, right?

I'm off to bed.

"I didn't receive any treatment until I got the cost, apart from an initial vaccination which is the thing that you get before you start the rabies jabs."

​More info please this is fascinating stuff !

http://www.who.int/rabies/human/postexp/en/

[Jimi007]

The tetanus shots are part of the normal protocol for dog bites in Thailand. My dog nipped my neighbor's kid and even though I had her rabies certificate and all her shots were up to date, they did all the shots anyway, which I paid for. Plus buying the kid a bunch of new toys.

Also the same bunch of shots when my wife got bit, I don't get why they give so many tetanus shots for a dog bite, but they do in Thailand.

I would probably go to Dr. Chusak's Clinic in Kata. He doesn't overcharge farangs. Or go to Vahcira Government Hospital in Phuket Town.

[dotpoom]

I can't imagine why you might have thought there was a possibility of overwhelming advice on here not yo seek medical advice..... Personally (contrary to suggestions on here I don't really see the point of getting medical advice on this particular matter, although if it makes you feel better, fire away)....it's simple and straight forward..."You got bitten by a dog ,,,,,so go get the tetines injections". Why dilly dally around for the sake of a few Baht when it comes to "peace of mind".

Edited April 5, 2016 by dotpoom

[habfan]

It cost 3300 baht and I'm 70kg. 4 more jabs to go.

My best guess is they've jabbed me for tetanus as well because I had about 5 injections and 2 of those were in my arse.

I told the doctor I'd already been vaccinated for tetanus when she asked me if I'd been vaccinated for rabies, even though she didn't ask. And I queried it before paying but they assured me it was for only one jab and for rabies and that it really was that expensive (I thought at the time they were charging me for all 5 rabies jabs which would be about right at 5 x 500 baht plus extras).

So what can you do, refuse to pay it and just settle the bill for the initial vaccination and trek across Phuket to another hospital and try your luck there? No matter how cautious you are and how much research you do beforehand, there always seems to be a subtle scam.

On a side note I could sit all day in the emergency room watching people come in and out. It's absorbing in a morbid sort of way. All the smokers and heavy drinkers on Thaivisa should do it, a few hours watching overweight farang coming off ambulances on trolleys with heart and chest problems, then the emergency beeep beeep beeep sound as they go into some sort of cardiac arrest or have a heart attack. They'd never smoke or drink again.

Was this a private Hospital?

If so and you want to save some baht, take the card they gave you for your remaining injections to a government hospital and they will finnish you up at a fraction of the cost.

[fester the benevolent]

All the smokers and heavy drinkers on Thaivisa should do it, a few hours watching overweight farang coming off ambulances on trolleys with heart and chest problems, then the emergency beeep beeep beeep sound as they go into some sort of cardiac arrest or have a heart attack. They'd never smoke or drink again.

You sound rabid; you should probably get that looked at.

Brace yourself with a stiff brandy and a cigar and head off to find a purveyor of leeches and an apothecary.

[off road pat]

Just read a few days ago that someone died of lupus "LUPUS" after a dog bite.....

[KarenBravo]

Got bitten by a dog and had a course of five injections. They are over a period of one month getting more infrequent as you go along.

Cost was about 550Bt per injection at Dr. Thiti in Chalong. Jabs are in the arm. Painless with no side effects.

This was during February.

[dick dasterdly]

Ignoring the obvious (not worth taking the risk) - it would be interesting to find out when rabies was last detected on Phuket?

I'm also ignoring the 'its painless' comments as I've never had a jab that was painless and can only assume some of you have a v high pain threshold!

[KarenBravo]

"Pain don't hurt".

(Patrick Swayze in the movie Roadhouse).

[Sheryl]

Tetanus shot even at a private hospital is extremely cheap. That is not what pushed up the tab.

Since you had multiple injections they likely administered tetanus immune globulin as well as tetanus vaccine. That still leaves 1-2 injections unaccounted for. Do get an itemized bill, any hospital can provide this. Just go back and ask cashier. Can say you need it for insurance claim.

It is also possible they charged you up front for the full series including the repeat injections as hospitals here sometimes do this. All the more reason to get detailed breakdown. In addition, should you have any delayed adverse reaction it is important to know what drug you were given.

[salavan]

see dr chusak in kata he is a very good doctor and very reasonable prices no skin tax for foreginer

[Keesters]

I'd go and bite the owner of the dog. By owner I mean the person who feeds it. A dog will not hang around unless fed.

[1234asdf]

I flew back to BKK a few days after and didn't continue the jabs. If it happened again and the area was declared rabies free as Phuket is, I wouldn't get jabs. I know people will disagree, but doing the maths, it isn't worth the cost even at 3600 baht. I get the "how much is your life worth" argument.

The chance of the dog being rabid are probably one in 1000, probably less. I had access to the dog so could check it again for rabies signs. The chance of the dog infecting me are probably slim as well since this bite barely broke the skin and there was no puncture wound at all really. The dog was old and most rabies is in younger dogs. The dog was not imported into Phuket recently. The combined odds are so slim that they're negligible. BKK would be a different matter since so many more of the dogs there are rabid. Any dog in Phuket which I couldn't observe, or if the wound was deep, I'd possibly think differently.

The original bill (invoice) was itemised but it was mostly in Thai and the parts that were in English was unreadable. The receipt (after I gave the bill to the cashier) was in English but just said "medicine" as the 2800 baht cost. The other few hundred baht was doctor fee, paracetamol (which I clearly didn't need, there was no wound for there to be any pain) and some other things. Since this was a government hospital presumably the doctors aren't taking a cut so with hindsight I think the extra charge is over-caution rather than anything dishonest.