It is heartbreaking to see a young child being mauled by a fierce dog in a neighborhood! The mortality rate is almost 100%. Why is rabies so scary?

Recently, incidents of vicious dogs injuring people have occurred frequently, causing people's concern.

On October 16, a young child was bitten by a vicious dog in Chengdu, Sichuan, and was seriously injured. On October 17, a netizen in Leshan, Sichuan broke the news: Recently, a large dog without a leash chased and bit two young children on the street. The poster of the video said that a young child was injured and the vicious dog was chased away by onlookers and property staff.

While people are angry about the behavior of "walking dogs without a leash", they also feel more distressed about the child's experience. After all, if you are accidentally bitten or scratched by a dog, you may be infected with the rabies virus, and once rabies breaks out, the patient is almost 100% dead. Previously, there were reports of young children who died after being bitten by a dog and not receiving rabies vaccination.

Why is rabies so scary? When do you need to get a rabies vaccine? How do you get one? This issue of "Health Focus" will give you the answers!

The mortality rate is almost 100%. Why is rabies so scary?

Rabies is a zoonotic central nervous system infectious disease caused by the rabies virus. According to statistics, 95% of human rabies cases in China are transmitted by sick dogs. If an animal unfortunately gets rabies, the rabies virus will be transmitted to humans through biting, scratching, licking, etc. It should be emphasized that although the name contains "dog", mammals such as cats, foxes, wolves, and bats can also spread the rabies virus.

Viruses are parasites that invade the human body by any means necessary, and their only goal is to replicate themselves. After entering the human body, most viruses will fight head-on with the immune system. Their main offensive method is to fight positional warfare. For example, viruses that infect the respiratory system will fight in the lungs, and viruses that infect the digestive system will fight in the intestines. As long as the immune system is strong enough, it will eventually defeat the virus.

However, rabies viruses do not follow routines. After invading the human body, they do not fight head-on with the immune system, but adopt a mobile approach. Rabies viruses first rest briefly in muscle tissue and replicate in small quantities. After a few days, they crawl along nerve endings toward the spinal cord and brain, advancing a few centimeters a day.

Once it reaches the brain, it will replicate in large numbers and start a "decapitation" operation. People will experience symptoms such as hydrophobia, wind phobia, photophobia, and drooling. Among them, hydrophobia is the most typical, and people are afraid of drinking water or hearing the sound of water.

It takes only 24 hours for the rabies virus to enter the brain and completely destroy the central nervous system. Once the important functional areas of the central nervous system are destroyed, the person will die immediately. Even if the immune system joins the fight at this time, it is too late. From the onset of the disease, it usually takes less than 5 days to kill a person.

Of course, people will not die immediately after being infected, because rabies has an incubation period, which is usually 1-3 months, and in rare cases it can be shorter than a week or more than a year.

When is it necessary to get rabies vaccine? How to get it?

Although rabies cannot be cured, it can be prevented through vaccination. The circumstances under which rabies vaccination is needed should be determined based on the degree of exposure.

Level 1 exposure: The skin is intact and not broken, there is no contact with the body's mucous membranes, the virus has not entered the body, and no treatment is required.

Secondary exposure: If the skin is broken but there is no bleeding, the virus may have entered the body. Wash the wound with soap and running water for 15 minutes, and then get a rabies vaccine.

Level 3 exposure: If the skin is broken and bleeding occurs, the virus is likely to have entered the body. Immediately treat the wound, get rabies vaccine, and also get rabies immunoglobulin.

Rabies vaccine is not a one-shot procedure. There are two types of vaccination procedures: the 5-shot method and the 4-shot method.

The sooner you inject rabies vaccine and passive immunization preparations, the better. It is generally recommended to inject rabies vaccine within 24 hours , but if it is more than 24 hours, it is best to inject it as soon as possible, just like those who have just been exposed, so that the vaccine can take effect before the disease occurs. It usually takes about a week for the vaccine to stimulate the body to produce corresponding antibodies.

Anti-rabies immunoglobulin (human rabies immunoglobulin) and anti-rabies serum (equine rabies immunoglobulin) are both passive immunization preparations for rabies.

The mechanism of action of rabies passive immunization preparations is that before active immunity is produced by vaccination, antibodies are directly injected into the exposed area to neutralize the virus remaining after wound treatment, thereby reducing the virus content in the wound and reducing the probability of disease. If the injection has not been made within 7 days, the rabies passive immunization preparation can also be given as a booster shot.

If you are bitten by a vaccinated cat or dog, do you still need to get a rabies vaccine?

The most important thing is to determine whether the animal that hurts people is healthy and whether it can be 100% ruled out that it has rabies, which is a challenge for doctors.

Furthermore, all vaccines cannot guarantee 100% effectiveness, so even if the animal that hurts people has been vaccinated, it is still possible to get rabies. For the sake of prevention, if bitten by a vaccinated cat or dog, it is still necessary to get a rabies vaccine in time. At the same time, the animal that hurts people should be isolated and observed (ten-day observation method).

The 10-day observation method means that people will be vaccinated immediately after being bitten, and the animal that hurt people will be quarantined for observation. If the animal that hurt people remains healthy within 10 days, then the remaining shots will not be needed. The 10-day observation method does not mean that you should observe first and then decide whether to vaccinate. Instead, you should vaccinate and observe at the same time , and this method is only suitable for domestic pets. If you are bitten by stray cats and dogs, you must complete the vaccination in a timely manner according to the procedure.

To eliminate rabies, immunizing dogs with a coverage rate of more than 70% is a very effective strategy. Therefore, I hope that all dog owners can regularly vaccinate their pets with veterinary rabies vaccines. In addition, be sure to use a leash when walking your dog! This not only protects yourself, but also reduces safety risks for society.