Being scratched by a dog does not necessarily lead to rabies. How to deal with being scratched and licked by a dog.

Jul 26,2025
4Min

Rabies virus spreads through nerves in the human body

First of all, we need to understand how rabies virus spreads in the human body. After the rabies virus enters the human body, it travels along the peripheral nerves and reaches the central nervous system. Therefore, patients who are bitten on the head, neck, upper limbs, etc. and those with large wound areas are more likely to develop the disease. Rabies virus mainly exists in the cerebral cortex, cerebellum and spinal cord of sick animals. Salivary glands and saliva also contain large amounts of viruses.

It depends on the situation if the skin is scratched by dog ​​paws


Since it is transmitted through nerves, if you are bitten by a dog that has already contracted rabies, it will be transmitted to the place where there are nerves. , this is obvious. Human skin is divided into three layers: epidermis, dermis, and subcutaneous tissue. The epidermis is laminated by the stratum corneum, granular layer, etc. The important thing is that there are no nerves, blood vessels, and other tissues in the epidermis. Therefore, when the epidermis is scratched by a dog and there is no bleeding and only white marks, there is no need to vaccinate at all.

It is not necessary to get vaccinated if you are bitten by a vaccinated dog


The above mentioned how the rabies virus works, now let’s talk about whether you need to get vaccinated if you are bitten or scratched by a dog vaccine.
First of all, the conditions of the dogs described here are dogs that have been vaccinated and strengthened on time every year. The following remarks are made on this basis.
One prerequisite for distinguishing whether a dog bite or scratch requires vaccination is to look at the depth of the injury, that is, whether the bite is bleeding. This is a key difference.
If there is no bleeding, there is no need to get rabies vaccine. The lack of bleeding proves that the part of the hand is not deep enough and has not damaged the neurovascular tissue, which is not enough to constitute the conditions for the action of rabies virus. Moreover, the biting dog is a dog that has been vaccinated with strengthened vaccines every year in strict accordance with the standards, so it itself will not Become a carrier of rabies virus, so you can rest assured.
If you are bitten and bleed, no matter how much the bleeding is, it is recommended to get vaccinated directly. No matter how strictly the biting dog is vaccinated according to the standards, it will not work. Don’t take chances. If you are not afraid of 10,000, just be afraid. just in case.
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