QUESTION: I was playing around with my neighbor's dog when it got very excited, started growling and then bit me on the hand.
They weren't deep cuts, and my neighbor assures me that the dog has all its shots, but my wife thinks I should visit the doctor for rabies shots.
I don't want to have a long series of painful injections if it's not necessary, so I need a quick reply from you.
What is your advice?
ANSWER: Rabies is not a disease to fool with, for without proper treatment when indicated, it is still almost always fatal.
Rabies is a viral infection of the central nervous system, and its treatment depends upon the fact that it has a long incubation period, usually from 20 to 90 days, (although it can develop in a period as short as 4 days or take more than five years to develop).
The treatment no longer is quite as painful or as difficult as you may have heard.
The initial treatment requires two injections, one of human immunoglobulin, the other of rabies vaccine.
Four more rabies injections will be given over the next 28 days, permitting the patient to acquire a resistance before the disease itself has had a chance to develop.
The circumstances of the bite determine whether or not this series of injections is required.
If the animal is known, as in your case, and when the dog has had all of its immunizations, it is possible to merely observe its behavior for 10 days, to see if signs of rabies develop.
You should report the incident to your local Health Department, who will know if rabies is present in your area, and who can advise you of your best plan of action.
They will probably want to examine the animal for signs of the rabies virus.
You're lucky it was a domestic animal with a clean history.
When the bite is the result of a wild animal's actions, a raccoon for example, there is a much greater chance that rabies is present and treatment should begin at once.
Rabies is not a pretty thing to watch as the first symptoms of fever, nausea, headache, lethargy and a tingling sensation at the site of the bite, rapidly progress over a ten day period to hyperactivity, disorientation, hallucination, difficulty in swallowing, followed by seizures, paralysis and death.
Once symptoms start there is no cure, so get hopping with your investigations of this animal.
The material contained here is "FOR INFORMATION ONLY" and should not replace the counsel and advice of your personal physician.
Promptly consulting your doctor is the best path to a quick and successful resolution of any medical problem.
