Hanoi While celebrating Tet at his grandmother's house, a child was suddenly bitten by an unvaccinated dog on the back, abdomen, and thigh, causing his intestines to perforate and become exposed.
When transferred to the National Children's Hospital, doctors performed surgery to remove a section of the boy's intestines and promptly injected him with anti-rabies serum and vaccine. This is one of nearly 90 cases of severe injuries caused by dogs, cats, monkeys, rats, rabbits... that the National Children's Hospital received during the 7-day Lunar New Year holiday.
Dr. Le Kien Ngai, Head of the Department of Infection Prevention and Control, said that most children were brought to the hospital with multiple injuries all over their bodies. For example, a 6-year-old girl in Hanoi was also bitten on the head and face by an unvaccinated dog, exposing the skull on both sides of the top of her head.
After receiving first aid at Van Dinh General Hospital, the child was transferred to the National Children's Hospital for treatment and injection of rabies serum and vaccine.
When attacked by an animal, in addition to trauma, the risk of contracting rabies is very high. Rabies is an acute viral encephalitis, transmitted from animals to humans mainly through bites or scratches, licks of rabid animals on damaged skin.
In addition, rabies virus can also be transmitted from person to person through tissue and organ transplants; bites or contact with secretions of a rabid person. The incubation period of rabies in humans is usually 1-3 months after exposure, rarely the incubation period is as short as 9 days or as long as several years.
The incubation period depends on the severity of the bite, the location of the bite in relation to the nerve supply, the distance from the bite to the brain, and the amount of virus invading. The more severe the bite and the closer it is to the central nervous system, the shorter the incubation period.
The child patient is being examined by doctors after surgery. Photo: Truong Giang
When bitten or injured by dogs, cats or wild animals, people need to quickly go to medical facilities for advice and preventive instructions.
In particular, rabies prevention with serum and vaccine is the only and most effective solution to protect the lives of exposed patients. Arbitrary treatment with traditional medicine, or collecting venom, applying leaves, etc. has not been proven to be effective in preventing the disease, on the contrary, it can be dangerous, creating conditions for the virus to enter the body more quickly or cause infection.
According to the Ministry of Health's instructions, rabies serum should be injected as soon as possible on the first day after being bitten. If it is not possible to inject on the first day after being bitten, it should be injected within 7 days after the first dose of vaccine. The number of doses of rabies vaccine should be given early depending on the pre-existing immunity to rabies, the condition of the bite, and the animal being monitored.
Le Nga
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