Hoalian » Rabies

Dog Bite Treatment

antony — Sun, 13 Dec 2009 19:37:57 +0000

Dog bite treatment should be required knowledge for anyone that lives around dogs. Many people believe that most dog bites occur away from home, by a dog not familiar to the person bitten. This is just not the case. Most experts agree that about half of all dog bites are from a dog that the person bitten is familiar with – perhaps the family dog or a dog that belongs to the next-door neighbor.

An interesting report called “Fatal Dog Attacks, 1989-1994″ states that only about 22% of “dog bite fatalities” involved an unrestrained dog off the owner’s property. This flies in the face of popular beliefs.

The first step in proper dog bite treatment is to assess the situation. You must ask yourself, is this a minor incident or not? A serious dog biting attack should be dealt with differently than a minor bite.

If the wound is slightly bleeding, clean the wound first then try to stop the bleeding. But if the wound is bleeding profusely, you must stop the bleeding first. Of course, in the case of a serious wound, always call 911 immediately.

If the wound is bleeding, you should stop that bleeding by putting pressure on the wound and then after the bleeding is stopped or greatly slowed, extensive cleaning is necessary. If bleeding resumes, reapply pressure on the wound. If you are unable to stop the bleeding get the patient to the doctor as soon as possible.

The doctor will assess the risk of infection, tetanus and rabies. Most likely 3 to 5 days of antibiotic, like Augmentin, will be prescribed to keep an infection from developing. In some cases a tetanus shot is given.

The tetanus shot will most likely be required if a child dog bite victim has not previously had 3 or more tetanus shots. However, if they have a serious bite that is not considered clean, and the patient has not had a tetanus shot in the last five years, the doctor will probably give one just to be on the safe side. Also, even if the wound is judged to be clean, and the patient has not had a booster shot in the last 10 years, the doctor will most likely give one.

These days, contracting rabies from a dog bite is rare because of the legal requirements for regular rabies vaccinations for all dogs. Rabies is more often seen in wild animals: raccoons, skunks, bats, etc… However there is still a “rabies risk” with a dog bite, and not one that you should take lightly. Better safe than sorry.

Do not be surprised if the doctor does not stitch up the wound. If there is the fear of infection, due to the length of time until the wound was cleaned, etc., she will not suture the wound. Wounds that are known to be clean or that are on the face may be sutured.

Although not necessary, it is always wise to document the bite injury with photos and diagrams. It is helpful in assessing the progress of the wound in recovery, and it is especially useful in litigation situations.

Some pre-existing medical conditions increase the risk of infection and beg special attention to assure patient safety. A few of these are: chronic disease, chronic edema of the extremity, diabetes, immuno-suppression, liver dysfunction, previous mastectomy, prosthetic valve or joint, splenectomy, systemic lupus, and many more. Be ready to tell your doctor of any such pre-existing condition

I think it would be safe to say that everyone will get at least one dog bite in their lifetime. Knowing how to execute proper dog bite treatment is knowledge that all families should possess. Just a little bit of knowledge on this topic can save a lot of pain and grief.

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Human & Animal Rabies

antony — Sun, 02 Aug 2009 19:48:21 +0000

Rabies is a vaccine-preventable disease, and it is still a significant public health problem in many countries of Asia and Africa, even though safe, effective vaccines for both human and veterinary use exist. Most of the 55 000 deaths from rabies reported annually around the world occur in Asia and Africa, and most of the victims are children: 30–50% of the reported cases of rabies—and therefore deaths—occur in children under 15 years of age. The main route of transmission is the bites of rabid dogs. Most of the children who die from rabies were not treated or did not receive adequate post-exposure treatment. Although the efficacy and safety of modern cell culture vaccines have been recognized, some Asian countries still produce and use nervous tissue vaccines, which are less effective, require repeated visits to the hospital and often have severe side-effects. Moreover, these patients do not receive the necessary rabies immunoglobulin, because of a perennial global shortage and because of its high price, so that it is unaffordable in countries where canine rabies is endemic.

Due to complete absence of any successful medical treatment for clinical rabies and the horrific nature of the disease, most rabies victims die at home rather than being admitted to a hospital in abysmal conditions. These circumstances add to the notorious lack of surveillance data. Underestimating the health implications of rabies leads many high ranking decision-makers in public health and animal health to perceive rabies as a rare disease of humans resulting from a bite of an uneconomically important animal (the dog). Therefore, rabies usually falls between two stools and is not dealt with appropriately either by the Ministry of Health or the Ministry of Agriculture.

How to Prevent Rabies

antony — Mon, 27 Jul 2009 19:45:09 +0000

Have your pets vaccinated against rabies. Any pets which come in contact with wild animals are at risk. Many local health departments conduct public vaccination clinics for dogs and cats. Your veterinarian can also vaccinate your pet against rabies. D uring recent years, confirmed cases of rabies in cats have exceeded the reported cases in dogs in some parts of the United States making vaccination and booster shots critical to your health and that of your pets.
If your cat or dog has been bitten or attacked by a wild animal or has bites or scratches of unknown origin, call your local health department or animal control officer to report the incident.
If your cat or dog has bitten a person, call your local health department or animal control officer to report the incident.
If your cat or dog is sick, seek the advice of your veterinarian.
Protect your pets from stray or wild animals. Keep your pets from running loose.
Report stray animals to your local health department so an animal control officer can investigate. Handling stray cats or dogs can be dangerous.
Do not feed or handle wild animals especially those that appear aggressive or sick. Never keep a wild animal as a pet.
A wild animal such as a bat, raccoon, fox, skunk, or groundhog which has bitten a person or domestic animal should be sacrificed immediately. Its head (or in the case of a bat, the entire bat) should be submitted to your state or county testing laboratory for examination. Rabies prophylaxis vaccinations may depend on your physician along with laboratory results.

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Rabies

antony — Wed, 22 Jul 2009 19:42:23 +0000

Rabies is a disease caused by a virus found in the saliva of infected animals and is transmitted to pets and humans by bites, or possibly by contamination of an open cut. Treatment of an infected person as critical. Untreated, rabies causes a painful death.

Most animals can be infected by the virus and can transmit the disease to man. Infected bats, raccoons, foxes, skunks, dogs or cats provide the greatest risk to humans. Rabies may also spread through exposure to infected domestic farm animals, groundhogs , weasels and other wild carnivores. Squirrels, rodents and rabbits are seldom infected.