Rabies vaccinations

Re: Rabies vaccinations

Richard Carter — Mon, 06 Feb 2012 14:19:51 GMT

Re human vaccinations - WHO protocols differ if you have been previously immunised or have naive exposure to virus. The former is a booster approach, the latter hyper immune serum and then repeated immunisations at short intervals to try get a response before the virus goes into the nerve and out of reach.

Most important is actually very prompt good cleaning of the wound.

The animal vaccines are based on risk exposure/ prevalence and a percentage game and as in UK risk is practically nil as opposed to India and other places, the length of time of measurable antibodies is taken as an indication of immunity - whether this is really the case in the face of massive challenge or even whether B lymphocytes are that important in providing immunity is another debate entirely.

Re: Rabies vaccinations

Christopher Saul — Mon, 06 Feb 2012 10:43:25 GMT

I wonder if any of our industry member colleagues can shed some light......

Re: Rabies vaccinations

Christopher Saul — Sat, 04 Feb 2012 23:57:28 GMT

[quote user="Busybee"]

Just to add more confusion - whenever I've had the rabies vaccine/booster myself, I've been told it won't prevent disease completely, just give me an extra 12-24 hrs to get to a hospital. We seem to put a lot more confidence in the animal vaccine than the human one.

[/quote]I'd heard that too, though I think possibly the human medics are taking a belt and braces approach there; what I mean is do vets living in rabies endemic areas (ie most of the world) go to hospital every single time they get scratched or bitten by an animal? I doubt it. Also I'd imagine vets working in the african or south american outback may be more than 12-24 hours from a hospital. And yet we don't hear of many rabies deaths in vets.

I think if I had had the full course of vaccines I would feel fairly safe, but surely we're being a bit optimistic entrusting our rabies free status to a single vaccine in dogs and cats? Would a course of two vaccines at least be too much to ask?

Re: Rabies vaccinations

Busybee — Sat, 04 Feb 2012 23:46:26 GMT