Rabies

General Chat
1

I am sure you could have done it more eloquently! I am currently dosed up with painkillers after being bitten by an escaped dog.

2

Oh my! Are you OK?

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thanks Leon. Will go to the GP for a tetanus jab on Monday as not had one for about 15 years.

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4

You may need some rabies injections too. The doctor will be able to advise. Hope you’re ok @anon44204028

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thanks…do you think I should take antibiotics? I have some here I could take

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It won’t help but it won’t hurt either. You could do. :man_shrugging:

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If you start getting lockjaw. Go straight to A&E. I think you already know that, but you know a reminder can’t hurt.

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thanks

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9

No think antibiotics are unlikely to help tbh.

I had rabies injections a while back so speaking from experience here.

The treatment for me after a dog bite was rabies injections and a tetanus booster.

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10

You’re more then welcome. :grinning:

11

It’s really important that you get yourself to the doctors or hospital as soon as you can, antibiotics wont help you unless they’re specifically against rabies or tetanus which I highly doubt anyone would have lying around in their home.

It’s incredibly unlikely that that dog had rabies, only bats are known to carry it in the U.K.right now. However in countries that do have dogs that carry it its essential to get the rabies shot as soon as possible after being bitten as its not something you can recover from if symptoms start to show.

Regarding tetanus, its not as essential to get an immediate shot of antibodies against it after being bitten, but its more common in the UK and you still need to bring it up with a doctor soon, they’ll be able to give you more information and a better diagnosis than I can over the internet. There may be other possible infections they’ll want to look for.

Please see this NHS website for more info:

I don’t mean to cause too much concern, this just raised a red flag for me - I study biomedical science at the moment and I’m just looking out for you!

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thanks, I’ll go to the GP when they open on Monday and ask for a tetanus jab (my last one was 2004 I think)

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13

Actually that’s not strictly true as there was 1 person that survived.

Yes I am THAT guy and I apologise. :anguished:

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14

You’re absolutely right, the case you linked was an experimental treatment that went by the name “Milwaukee protocol“.

Despite it apparently working on the patient, it was generally considered a failure [1, 2] as there isn’t a lot of scientific evidence to back up its use, and according to source 2 only that one girl out of 26 patients treated in accordance with the Milwaukee Protocol survived the treatment.

There is still a mortality rate of close to 100% in humans if you begin to show rabies symptoms, and personally that’s not a risk I’d think is worth taking!

Edit: But still remember that rabies is basically non existent in the U.K. and is only known to be carried in bats, so as long as the dog wasn’t brought in illegally from a country that carries rabies in dogs you’d be fine anyway.

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15

or a dog that had been bitten by a bat :wink:

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16

Rabies is not in the UK

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17

It is in bats, but not in domestic dogs.

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18

I think you should be OK on the rabies front. It’d need to be an unusually large bat to be mistaken for a dog😏

Do get checked, though.

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19

Mhm, you mentioned a dog though.

I have had this argument often, my original education was animal management.

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20

I think I will be OK…but if it is in bats, a bat could bite a dog, then the dog could bite me, then I could bite the doctor…It could easily spread :wink:

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