According to the 2015 report of World Health Organization , there are 55,000 deaths from rabies worldwide every year, of which 99% of the cases come from developing countries , Asia accounts for 56% of the total cases, and Africa accounts for 44% of the total cases.
combined with news reports related to rabies, it will be found that many people died when rabies attacks. And what is even more incomprehensible is that most of them have been vaccinated before their death, so why are such people still gone?
Most cases of rabies appear in developing countries
Rabies has taken away many lives
Rabies was long ago included in the report on the " Law on the Prevention and Control of Infectious Diseases of the People's Republic of China" in my country. It has always been treated as a key public health issue.
According to literature, between 1950 and 2015, there were 3 peak rabies epidemic in my country, among which the second peak in the early 1980s was the most serious. The report shows that people who died of rabies reached 7,037 .
1950-2014 China's rabies report
Although everyone's awareness of prevention has improved in recent years, tragedies still happen often. Especially now, there are still many people who walk their dogs without leashing , and stray dogs wander around, which makes danger still lurking around most people.
For example, in September 2014, Wuhan Municipal Center for Disease Control and Prevention reported such a case, pointing out that Master Song from Hangzhou, Zhejiang passed away due to rabies infection. It only took more than two months from encountering mad dog to onset and then to death.
More importantly, according to the recollections of Master Song and his relatives and friends, he was not bitten on the day he encountered the evil dog, but he was stained with a lot of blood on his hands during the confrontation.
The old injury recurred during the confrontation
However, Master Song was injured by the cutting machine because of his work before. That day, he just finished dismantling the thread and wrapped it with a bandage. The doctor believes that the rabies virus entered his body through the wound at that time. Later, despite the timely replenishment of rabies vaccine, he unfortunately passed away.
There are many people like Master Song who are injected with the vaccine but still die after accidental infection.
This makes everyone very worried. Could it be that the rabies vaccine has expired? Why do I still die if I get vaccinated in time?
I was injected with rabies vaccine but I still died
Why does it still occur after I was injected with the vaccine?
Rabies itself is caused by rabies virus infection . Patients often have symptoms such as water fear, photophobia , dysphagia , mania, etc. It is an acute fatal infectious disease of zoonotic diseases, and its mortality rate is nearly 100% .
believes that most people don’t understand this mortality rate, which also leads to people not paying enough attention to rabies. The particles of this virus are bullet-shaped, about 100 to 300 nanometers in length and about 75 nanometers in diameter. Judging from experimental data, it is not resistant to high temperature . If it is placed in the suspension and heated at 100 degrees Celsius for two minutes, it will lose its infectivity. However, if it is under normal temperature and autolysis conditions, it will remain active for as long as 7 to 10 days .
Rabies virus is a bullet-like
There are many ways to get infected with rabies, not only if you are bitten. If you are like Master Song in Hangzhou, if is scratched or there is a wound on your skin, the virus will still enter the infectious body along the wound.
In addition, virus can also invade human through the respiratory tract and digestive organs. For example, inhaling rabies virus aerosol contained in bat caves or eating raw meat of animals infected with the virus, all have a chance of getting infected.
need to pay attention to the many ways of infection rabies
Since rabies has not yet been completely cured, the only way for people to fight it is to prevent vaccines before and after exposure.
Now, WHO recommends rabies vaccines mainly include the following types, namely human diploid cell vaccine, Vero cell vaccine and duck embryo purification vaccine.
However, judging from many cases of disease, everything is not good if you get the vaccine. Many people forget to get the vaccine in time, come to get the injection after they have symptoms, and eventually die. Why is this?
There are many types of rabies vaccine
This is actually because rabies vaccine is not a magical medicine to cure diseases. It is too late to inject it after you have related symptoms. This is not standardized.
After all, the vaccine needs to be injected for 7 to 10 days before enough antibodies can be produced. If occurs before the vaccine works, or completes the injection after the disease occurs, it is useless.
Of course, we said in the above article that there is no specific drug, which means that the vaccine is not absolutely effective. Some people's physique determines that they will not help even if they are vaccinated. However, there are still very few such people, which is about one in tens of thousands of times.
Schematic diagram of the mechanism of action of rabies vaccine
It can be seen that the low disposal rate after rabies exposure and the failure to deal with it in accordance with the specifications is actually the key to death .
Most people do not know the mortality rate of rabies and do not know enough about the infection pathway, which leads to them not seeking medical treatment in time after exposure, but only choose to deal with it by themselves. This is a manifestation of weak awareness of prevention.
data shows that the national rabies sentinel monitoring data in 2009 showed that among the reported rabies cases, 28.1% of wounds treated by themselves, 12.6% of wounds treated in medical institutions, 15.2% of vaccine injections, and only 6.3% of passive immunization preparations were injected in Class III patients.
Many people did not take the initiative to inject vaccination in time after being bitten
So after understanding the horrors of rabies, everyone should actively popularize their families with their families and inject vaccination in time to avoid accidents. After being accidentally attacked by a vicious dog, don’t be afraid of trouble. Go to the hospital in time and act according to the doctor’s instructions. If these can be done, the probability of rabies will be greatly reduced.
In addition, it should be noted that rabies has a long incubation period, and sometimes it can even reach 3 months and . So don’t be lucky. If you think that a few days or a month have passed, it means you have no infection. Such thoughts will end up harming yourself.
The infection process of rabies makes its incubation period longer
So, how do you distinguish the exposure levels of rabies and what do people need to do after exposure?
Prevention after rabies exposure
Generally speaking, rabies exposure will be divided into three levels. The first-level exposure of often mainly involves pet licking . This is generally not a big deal. After the doctor determines the situation, he will make suggestions that there is no need to deal with it.
Secondary exposure includes nipples on the skin and scrambles without bleeding symptoms. This mild infection still requires the wound to be treated in time. If possible, you can go to the hospital for careful disinfection. After the disinfection is completed, you will get vaccinated with rabies.
There are differences in the treatment methods under different exposure situations
The third-level exposure is more serious. has more scratches and bites in the body, and there are open wounds on the body that are infected or licked. In addition, exposure to bats is also the key to this level.
People with third-level exposure should immediately rinse the wound and then go to the hospital for disinfection and treatment. In addition to the need to inject rabies vaccine, you also need to inject passive immunization agents in rabies to try your best to ensure your life safety.
The third-level exposure is the most serious. You should seek medical treatment in time
In addition, it should be noted that many people think that only dogs will cause this disease to occur when they see the three words rabies. This view is wrong. Because there are many animals that can infect rabies viruses, such as bats, raccoons, skunks, foxes, , etc., are all natural hosts., cats, pigs, cows, horses, etc., which are often in contact with humans, are also sources of infection, but these animals are better than dogs.
data shows that 88.50% to 94.78% of the cases reported in China in recent years are caused by dog bites, 1.74% to 4.60% are caused by cat bites, and there are also reports of diseases after being bitten by wild animals such as weasel badgers.
Many animals can be infected with rabies
So families with cats should also pay special attention. Once scratched or bitten, they should still go to the hospital for inquiries and get rabies vaccines in time.
