What should I do if I am bitten or scratched by a dog? The authoritative statement of the World Health Organization's Rabies Research Center is this: 1. Healthy dogs (cats and other animals) do not carry the virus. "Venomous" is a medical term, meaning "infectious", here "does not carry the virus" "It means that even if cats and dogs carry rabies virus, they are not contagious before they become ill, and people who are bitten do not need to be vaccinated.
2. The pathogenesis of rabies is that the virus invades the brain cells of animals and triggers rabies attacks. At this time, cats and dogs will have very obvious clinical symptoms, which are easy to identify. Only at this time can the saliva of cats and dogs carry the virus and become contagious. If you are bitten by such a cat or dog, you must get a rabies vaccine.
3. Dogs (cats) can only carry the virus after a rabies attack. Only when warm-blooded animals such as cats and dogs that have shown rabies symptoms bite people can the rabies virus be transmitted to people through saliva. At this time, you are bitten Rabies vaccination is required.
4. Dogs (cats) and other warm-blooded animals are 100% dead within 3 to 4 days after the onset of rabies. Therefore, only the 3 to 4 days before death is the infectious period, and being bitten is dangerous. Even if you are bitten and the cat or dog dies of rabies 10 days later, you don’t have to worry because it was not in the infectious period when it bit you. (10 days is the safety observation period specially extended by the World Health Organization)
5. If you are bitten by a warm-blooded animal with rabies symptoms (a cat (dog) that has obviously abnormal behavior compared to a healthy cat (dog)), you need to treat it immediately Get a rabies vaccination and observe the cat (dog) that bit you. If the cat (dog) has not died of rabies within 10 days, you can stop the rabies vaccination and it can be determined that you have not been infected with rabies.
6. Rabies has an incubation period, but the maximum period is 6 years. According to research by the World Health Organization, most are 20 days to February, and the longest period is 6 years. As for some cases in my country, the World Health Organization expressed doubts that there are no cases in the world. No evidence of long-term incubation has been found, and infectious disease medical experts believe it may be misdiagnosis or secondary exposure.
7. The rabies vaccine can be delayed. If you have been bitten and it has been 6 years, you can rest assured. If you are worried, you can get the rabies vaccine again, which is equivalent to the first exposure. (First time being bitten), but at this time two injections are needed.
8. If you have pets or have frequent contact with animals, the following is recommended: Get three shots for pre-exposure prophylaxis, so that if you are bitten, especially if you are suspected of being bitten by a rabid dog or cat, you can get vaccinated directly. Immunity is achieved with 2 shots.