Latest version of rabies vaccination guide

If you are scratched or bitten by cats, dogs, bats, or wild warm-blooded animals, or if you have licked mucous membranes or fresh unhealed wounds, you must be vaccinated against rabies according to regulations.； If you have been fully vaccinated within six months, and this time you were slightly scratched and bitten by a domestic animal that is regularly vaccinated, you do not need to re-vacculate. ； There are no absolute rules spread online such as "vaccination is invalid after 24 hours" and "if you are scratched by a cat, you must be beaten." All situations can be flexibly judged based on the risk of exposure.

Last week, I was on duty at the vaccination desk at the community health service center. I met a little girl who was in the second year of high school. She had a half-centimeter-long red mark scratched by a British shorthair cat that had just been brought back from home. She squatted at the door and cried. She said that she had seen a short video the night before saying, "Vaccinations that exceed 24 hours are in vain. Rabies will kill you." She was so frightened that she couldn't sleep all night, and her eyes were swollen like walnuts when she came. In fact, there is really no need to panic. When I finished disinfecting and registering her, I went over some of the issues that everyone is most concerned about.

The exposure risks we usually talk about fall into three categories: if you just touch an animal, the skin is not broken or the wound is licked, you don’t need to worry at all, and you don’t even need to disinfect.； If you get red marks from scratches or bites, or the skin is broken but there is no bleeding, you just need to get vaccinated. ； If you see blood, or the wound is on the head, face, or fingertips, where nerves are densely distributed, you will need to receive immune globulin in addition to the vaccine. This is really expensive. The immune globulin directly gives you a temporary supply of antibodies, which works much faster than the vaccine.

Let me also say here that there is currently no completely unified statement in the industry: Should you hit someone who is bitten by animals such as hamsters, house mice, and rabbits? The official caliber of the domestic Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is that such animals rarely carry rabies virus, and domestic individuals in non-epidemic areas are basically not at risk and do not need to be vaccinated. ； However, many clinicians will recommend vaccination. After all, there have been sporadic cases of wild rats carrying the virus in the past ten years. You can weigh it yourself. If you are really worried, there is no harm in getting a few injections. The side effects of the rabies vaccine are very small. At most, the vaccination will cause pain for two days, which is better than worrying for half a month.

Now the vaccination procedure is not just the 5-injection method that everyone remembers. If you are busy at work and have no time to go to the hospital, you can choose the "2-1-1" procedure: one injection in each arm on the 0th day, and one injection each on the 7th and 21st days. A total of only 3 times. The effect is exactly the same as the 5-injection method. Last month, a programmer from an Internet company came to try this program. He chose this program because he said he saved two times of leave and deducted the perfect attendance bonus, which was much more cost-effective than the price difference of the 5-stitch method.

As for the most widely circulated "24-hour golden period", it is really a commonplace rumor. I looked through the domestic clinical statistics of the past three years and found that as long as the symptoms of rabies have not yet appeared, vaccination can stimulate the body to produce sufficient antibodies. It is just that the earlier the vaccination, the better the protection effect. Last year, an uncle at a construction site was bitten on the leg by a stray dog. At the time, he thought the wound was small and didn't take it seriously. It took him three days to remember to get a shot. He received immune globulin and a full course of vaccinations as per the regulations, but nothing happened in the end.

There is also the ten-day observation method that everyone asks about most. Here we also explain the different treatment methods at home and abroad: In European and American countries, because the infection rate of stray animals is very low, it is generally recommended that as long as the animal that bites you does not die within 10 days, you can stop subsequent vaccinations.； However, most clinicians in China will advise you to "observe while fighting". After all, the poisoning rate of stray animals in China is much higher than that in Europe and the United States. If the one that bites you is a stray cat or dog that cannot find its owner, you simply cannot continue to observe it for 10 days. It will be too late to fix the problem when something goes wrong. Last time I had my ankle bruised by a neighbor's Corgi who regularly vaccinates me. I took the first two injections and saw the dog running around the neighborhood alive and kicking every day. The last two injections were not given. Of course, I only dared to do this after confirming the dog's vaccination status. If I encounter an animal of unknown origin, I will definitely give it the full vaccination.

Oh, by the way, if you are in frequent contact with animals, such as pet doctors, pet store clerks, or travel friends who often go hiking in the mountains, you can actually take 3 pre-exposure prophylaxis shots in advance. Even if you are scratched and bitten after the shot, you only need 2 more shots, which is much more convenient than rushing to the hospital in a hurry.

In fact, there is really no need to panic too much about rabies. Now, as long as wounds are treated and vaccinated according to the regulations, the incidence rate is almost 0. Don’t scare yourself by watching short videos. If you are not sure, go directly to the community vaccination point near your home and ask. It is much more reliable than the rumors you spent two hours checking online.