Vaccination against rabies to man - pros and cons

At present, rabies vaccination remains the only way to prevent the disease.

For the whole history of research and treatment of this dangerous disease, only three reliable cases of cure are known, which have been confirmed by appropriate laboratory tests, the very first of which refers only to 2004.

This is why rabies vaccination should be prescribed in all suspicious cases of human contact with warm-blooded mammals, in which mucosal or mucous membranes were observed to melt, even without apparent damage to their integrity, especially when applying wounds of any size and location.

Rabies vaccination - for which it is needed

The main differences between the human rabies and the rest of the fauna that can be affected by this disease are the following facts:

• the incubation period of rabies in humans has a sufficiently long duration - it can stretch for several weeksand even months, so vaccination must be carried out in all suspicious cases.

Even with a minimum duration( 10 days), subject to the patient's early medical treatment and the beginning of vaccination, a person will have time to receive three doses of the vaccine and immunoglobulin, which minimizes the likelihood of the disease even when in contact with wild animals;

• rabies virus in humans is not transmitted by contact with a sick person with a healthy one, although cases of organ transplant from a person who was infected with rabies virus and were still in the incubation period of the disease were described earlier;

• rabies in children remains the most frequent variant of the development of the disease, which is not related to professional activity - it is children who are more often in contact with wild and domestic animals, but they are afraid to report a bite.

Rabies vaccination, started in the incubation period, allows the body to develop specific antibodies that will not allow the pathogen to enter the nerve trunks and nodes and through them to reach the central nervous system, where the virus becomes the cause of encephalitis, leading to the inevitable death of the patient.

It should be remembered that the duration of the incubation period largely depends on the location of the bite site, therefore distinguish:

• bites with dangerous localization - damage to the head and face, neck, fingers and hands;
• bites non-hazardous localization - damage to the rest of the human body surface.

The probability of infection depends largely on the source of the possible infection - most often this virus affects warm-blooded predators. The reservoir of the rabies virus in nature remains predators of the family of dog - foxes, wolves.

When a pet is bitten, a person can not be vaccinated if there is accurate information about his vaccination and the possibility of monitoring him.

How to prevent rabies in people

The vaccination against rabies to a person at present does not require the notorious forty injections in the stomach, which the "especially conscious" representatives of the older generation are so fond of frightening their children.

Currently, rabies prevention in humans is carried out with a concentrated purified culture rabies vaccine( COCAV), which is used to vaccinate children and adults.

Compliance with recommendations helps to prevent the possibility of rabies, but with a high probability of infection( a bite of a wild animal that has disappeared and can not be subjected to immediate laboratory testing), additional introduction of the finished homologous( human) rabies immunoglobulin is necessary.

And when a child is vaccinated, and the vaccine of an adult patient, the vaccine dose and schedule and mode of administration remain unchanged.

According to the existing legislation, vaccination against this disease is included in the national vaccination plan, therefore, when applying for emergency medical care after a bite, the question - how much is a vaccination against rabies, a patient in a public health institution should not worry.

Many people are interested in the number of injections and the number of injections. The answer to this question can be given only by a qualified rabiologist, who examined a particular patient and estimated the number of injuries, their depth, location, found out the traumatized circumstances of contact, knows the epidemiological situation of rabies in this locality.

A rabies vaccine for a person who is not associated with constant contact with possible carriers of the virus, requires a full cycle of injections consisting of 5 injections( on day of bite-3-7-14-30 day), and in case of unfavorableepidemic situation and damage to dangerous localization - also on the 90th day from the beginning of treatment.

In case of a favorable situation for rabies in the village, there is a low probability of infection( it is possible to observe unvaccinated pets or the probability of rabies in a wild animal is completely excluded from laboratory tests), vaccination can be limited to three injections - at 0-3-7 days of treatment.

Among some categories of the population, dealing with the type of professional activity with contacts with possible carriers of the virus, preventive vaccination is carried out.

Vaccination against rabies

Despite the fact that foreign antibodies enter the body despite the introduction of rabies vaccine, there are no absolute contraindications to the introduction of rabies vaccine - it is administered under the condition of constant medical observation in the hospital, even to pregnant women and people suffering from allergic or oncological diseases.

The most common side effects of specific prevention of rabies are skin and systemic allergic reactions, for the elimination of which antihistamines are prescribed.