Rescuing hundreds of stray cats to care for, N.D.VK and her husband D.DTL (District 7, Ho Chi Minh City) were often scratched and bitten, leaving many scratches on their skin. Because they were too busy to take the cats for vaccinations, the couple decided to vaccinate them against rabies to proactively prevent the disease and take care of the stray cats with peace of mind.
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| Thanh Nguyen (18 years old) got a rabies vaccine before returning to Canada to continue his studies. |
Rabies has the highest mortality rate among infectious diseases.
Mr. L. and his wife are among the many people who have recently chosen to get vaccinated against rabies. According to Mr. L., rescued cats are at high risk of contracting rabies. Preventive vaccination is much better than having to inject anti-rabies serum because this serum injection will cause many side effects.
Sharing the same view, Ms. TC (32 years old), an employee at a pet care spa, is also very concerned about getting rabies from pets. “I often have to cut and trim the fur and nails of dogs and cats, so I often get scratched and bitten, not to mention they are often sick, so I am very afraid of getting rabies from pets,” Ms. C. confided.
Thanh Nguyen (18 years old) went to the VNVC Hoang Van Thu Vaccination Center (Ho Chi Minh City) to get vaccinated against rabies and some other vaccines such as typhoid and hepatitis B. This is how he protects himself before returning to Canada to continue his studies.
Recently, the country has recorded many outbreaks of rabies, deaths due to rabies dog bites due to not being vaccinated against rabies. Notably, there have been some deaths many months after being bitten by a rabid dog.
In Vietnam, due to limited management of raising and confining dogs and cats, the situation of dogs not being vaccinated against rabies, not muzzled and often roaming freely is quite common, so the risk of people being exposed to the rabies virus is quite high.
Rabies has the highest mortality rate among infectious diseases, with nearly 100% of patients dying when they have a rabies attack. The disease is mainly transmitted by being bitten, scratched, or licked on damaged skin by dogs or cats carrying the rabies virus. Other less common routes of transmission include contact with secretions, samples containing the rabies virus, organ transplants, etc.
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| People get rabies vaccine before exposure. |
Rabies has two forms: frenzied and paralytic. In the frenzied form, the patient's first symptoms are high fever, headache, fever, fatigue, numbness and pain at the wound site.
When the virus penetrates deep into the brain, the patient shows symptoms of insomnia, fear of light, fear of noise, fear of wind, aggressive behavior, increased salivation, low blood pressure, confusion, muscle spasms, and cardiac arrest. The disease progresses to the point where the patient cannot chew, swallow, or drink water. The patient usually dies within a week of the onset of the disease.
Paralytic polio is less common, causing paralysis of the entire body, urinary and bowel disorders, and paralysis of the limbs. The patient will die immediately if the paralysis spreads to the respiratory muscles. When rabies occurs, the patient is completely conscious until death.
The incubation period of rabies virus is very complicated, it can be only 7 to 10 days but can also last several years, even more than 1 year, depending on the severity and location of the animal bite.
| Rabies often increases in the dry season from May to August every year due to hot and humid weather that causes the rabies virus to develop. On average, each year, about 500,000 people are exposed to rabies and more than 70-100 people die from rabies. From the beginning of the year to the end of July, the country recorded 43 deaths due to rabies. Of these, the North had 20 cases, the South had 9 cases, the Central had 5 cases and the Central Highlands had 11 cases (Gia Lai had 8 cases and Dak Lak had 3 cases). |
Doctor Bach Thi Chinh, Medical Director of the VNVC Vaccination Center System, said that recently, 125 centers nationwide have recorded an increase in the number of people coming to get rabies vaccinations, including many people who proactively got vaccinated before being bitten by dogs or cats.
“According to statistics, the highest number of people vaccinated against rabies is in the Southwest region, an increase of nearly 600% compared to 2 weeks ago,” said Dr. Chinh.
Who should get rabies vaccination?
Doctor Chinh warned that many people still believe that only bleeding wounds can cause rabies, that rabies can be cured with traditional medicine, applying leaves, going to a witch doctor to get poison, or refusing to get vaccinated against rabies because they fear that the vaccine will cause memory loss or reduced intelligence...
Experts confirm that there is currently no oriental medicine that has been researched and published that can cure rabies, and that these measures are ineffective. The only way to prevent and treat rabies is to inject the rabies vaccine and anti-rabies serum.
When bitten by a rabid or suspected rabid animal, the victim must immediately wash the wound with soapy water under a clean, running tap for 10-15 minutes and disinfect the wound with 70% alcohol or iodine alcohol. Then, quickly go to a medical facility to treat the wound and inject rabies vaccine or anti-rabies serum as advised by the doctor as soon as possible, with the correct and sufficient dose according to the treatment regimen. |
Dr. Truong Huu Khanh, former Head of the Department of Infectious Diseases and Neurology, Children's Hospital 1, Ho Chi Minh City, said that according to the guidelines for monitoring and preventing rabies in humans issued by the Ministry of Health, rabies vaccination and periodic booster shots are recommended for people at high risk of exposure to the rabies virus such as veterinary staff, laboratory staff working with rabies virus, dog slaughterers, residents and travelers to areas where rabies is endemic.
Pre-exposure prophylaxis against rabies requires only 3 injections, which is completely flexible in terms of time. In case of being bitten by a dog or cat, the vaccination schedule will be simpler, only 2 injections of vaccine are needed without the need for rabies serum.
| The new generation rabies vaccine uses fractional centrifugation technique, ensuring low levels of impurities and complying with World Health Organization (WHO) quality standards (less than 10 nanograms per dose). |
Meanwhile, if you do not get vaccinated against rabies before being bitten by a dog or cat, you need to get 5 shots within a strict time limit of one month. In particular, if you have a serious wound in a vital location, you need to get a serum injection, which will greatly affect your psychology and daily routine, as well as causing more pain and side effects.
For children, pre-exposure rabies vaccination is especially important because children are too busy playing and do not share with their parents the scratches and bites from dogs and cats. Children are often bitten by dogs on the head, face, and neck, which can easily cause the rabies virus to move faster to the central nervous system and cause disease quickly.
"Currently, rabies vaccines are produced using modern technology and do not contain nerve cells, so they are harmless and do not affect the health or memory of users," Dr. Chinh emphasized.
The new generation of rabies vaccines uses fractional centrifugation technique, ensuring low levels of impurities and complying with the quality standards of the World Health Organization (WHO) (less than 10 nanograms per dose). Some vaccines do not use the preservative thimerosal (mercury), so the new generation of rabies vaccines also minimizes local side effects such as swelling, pain, fever, etc. compared to the old generation of vaccines that have been discontinued.
Ms. Vu Thi Thu Ha, Supply Director, VNVC Vaccination Center System, said that the demand for rabies vaccination is year-round but often has a sudden increase at certain times of the year. VNVC always has a full range of new generation rabies vaccines, safe and highly effective for children and adults. People can proactively get vaccinated in advance and immediately when an incident occurs to promptly protect their health and lives.
( According to nhandan.vn )
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