An Animal Bit Me. What Should I Do?
Wash the wound right away with soap and water. Thatâs the best way to lower your chances of infection. See a doctor as soon as possible. Theyâll treat the wound and decide whether you need a rabies vaccination. If youâve been exposed to rabies in the past few months, theyâll likely run a number of tests (saliva, blood, spinal fluid, skin, and hair) to check for the rabies virus or antibodies.
If your doctor suspects rabies, theyâll begin treatment with the rabies vaccine — postexposure prophylaxis (PEP). The vaccine is always successful if itâs given immediately after exposure. Youâll get one dose of fast-acting rabies immune globulin, which will prevent you from getting infected by the virus. Then youâll get four rabies vaccine shots over the next 14 days.
If you are pregnant, rabies shots are safe for you and your baby.
What is Rabies? How is Rabies Transmitted?
Rabies is a viral illness that can affect humans, as well as almost every mammal species. When birds become exposed to the virus they can develop antibodies to the virus, but they do not get sick. Symptoms of rabies can appear anywhere from four days to six years after the bite that caused the exposure. The first symptoms to appear are fever and headache, which can be mistaken for many other illnesses. Then the classic rabies symptoms appear, such as delirium, aggression, inability to sleep, and painful spasms of the throat, which lead to an inability to swallow and excessive salivation (“foaming at the mouth”). These symptoms occur because of encephalitis (inflammation of the brain). Once the foaming at the mouth and the neurological symptoms begin, rabies is almost always fatal.
Only one person is known to have survived rabies after the presentation of symptoms. In 2003, Jeanna Giese of Wisconsin was hospitalized with rabies symptoms, placed in a medically induced coma, and treated with antivirals. After she recovered, though, doctors discovered that she had already developed antibodies to rabies before the bite that caused her illness.
When a person gets bitten or scratched by an animal that might have rabies, the person should promptly seek treatment in the form of post-exposure prophylaxis (PEP). If an animal bit you without provocation, that is reason enough to suspect that it has rabies because rabies makes animals more aggressive. PEP consists of several injections near the bite wound site and one deep intramuscular injection, usually in the shoulder or leg. PEP is 100% effective if given immediately after the bite occurs and still almost completely effective if given several days, or even several weeks later. If you get treatment promptly, the chances are almost zero that you will get rabies from a dog bite or other animal bite.
Thanks to PEP, you almost certainly do not have to worry about getting rabies from a dog bite in Missouri, but there is an additional reason that you should not worry about. Missouri law requires dog owners to vaccinate their dogs against rabies. Puppies must get a series of rabies vaccinations, and adult dogs must get a booster shot every three years. Of course, if a stray dog bites you, or if a pet dog whose owner you do not know bites you, you cannot be sure if the dog is up to date on its rabies shots, so the best thing to do is go to the emergency room immediately after the bite. Tell the hospital staff in detail about the circumstances of the bite, and they will decide whether you are at enough risk of rabies exposure to make PEP necessary.
Because most dogs have been vaccinated against rabies, there have been no cases of humans getting rabies from dog bites in Missouri in more than a decade. Most rabies cases in Missouri, and elsewhere in the United States, are transmitted through bats. Furthermore, cases of rabies in the United States, and in the Americas in general, are very rare. The only country in the Americas where there is more than one rabies case per million people per year is Bolivia. The countries with the highest incidence of dog-to-human rabies transmission are in tropical and subtropical areas of Africa and Asia.
What tests will be done to diagnose this condition?
Tests for rabies might include:
There’s no approved treatment for rabies once you have symptoms. If you’ve been exposed to rabies (were bitten by or been in contact with an infected animal), contact a healthcare provider as soon as possible.
Clean the wound gently but thoroughly with soap and water. Ask your provider for additional instructions on cleaning the wound.
Your provider will give you a series of shots (vaccinations) to prevent the virus from causing rabies. They’ll also give you an antibody treatment directly to the wound if you’ve never been vaccinated before.
If you’re bitten or scratched by a wild animal, there are steps you can take to prevent rabies.
Medications prevent an infection from traveling to your brain if you’ve been exposed to rabies (post-exposure prophylaxis/PEP). These medications are often combined:
You might have mild side effects of rabies vaccines, including:
If you have severe side effects, contact your provider.