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Rabies - post exposure treatment (1 Viewer)

Andy Adcock

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Cyprus
I went to the clinic today to get a Yellow fever innoculation (certificate required for East African visa). We now know that once immunised, protection is for life but like most people of my age who were immunised some thirty years ago, I was told that you only got ten years protection and again, like many, for this reason I had thrown away my certificate after it expired. Rather annoyingly, I couldn't locate the clinic that gave me the innoculation so instead of just paying for the re-issue of the certificate, I ended up paying to be innoculated again.

Anyway, during the consult, I was told that the post exposure drug used against rabies is no longer being produced. The reason it seems is that it's a human blood product and there's a shortage of donated blood. The Doctor told me that all the recent cases of rabies in Europe had been fatal, in no small part down to the shortage or complete lack of this drug.

Can anyone else confirm this or was this Doctor a double glazing salesperson in a former life?

I must admit that the availablity of a post infection treatment, was probably the main reason I'd never had this expensive, three part vaccination but today with this new information, a very good price on the vaccination (£30 x 3) and the assurance of a lifetimes protection, I decided it was time.

I must admit though, I was expecting her to try and sell me an Ebola vaccination!
 
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Interesting about the rabies jab. Will look into that myself.

Re. Yellow Fever, I went to my GP to get a booster about 4 years ago and was told that the WHO advice about lifetime immunity had just been published, and he refused to give me a booster. I told him I needed an up-to-date stamp on my certificate for a Cameroon visa, so he wrote "Allergic to vaccine" on my certificate, and stamped it.
 
I had the 3 course jab treatment after a dog bit me in Siem Reap, Cambodia. I was told the anti-rabies jab was available but hard to get due to a shortage of blood products, I'd never worried about it but the bite brought me back to reality and I'd sure check it out now, except presumably I am now covered by the jabs?
 
I had a friend who had the jabs last year. No mention of any issues about availability, but I don't know that he asked.

Just to be clear, it's not the vaccination that is in short supply, rather the drug that's used to treat a potential infection if you've been bitten.
 
I had the 3 course jab treatment after a dog bit me in Siem Reap, Cambodia. I was told the anti-rabies jab was available but hard to get due to a shortage of blood products, I'd never worried about it but the bite brought me back to reality and I'd sure check it out now, except presumably I am now covered by the jabs?

Intra abdominal, was it as painful as I've been told it is?
 
Just to be clear, it's not the vaccination that is in short supply, rather the drug that's used to treat a potential infection if you've been bitten.

Understood. He was bitten, so he needed multiple injections.

I think he said the first course was one in the belly, one in each leg, and one in each arm. Subsequent injections were less "extensive".

And he told me the ones in his legs were the most painful ones.
 
You still need treatment even if you've had the vaccination. Intra abdominal injections haven't been used for some time.

The main reason for having the vaccination is to avoid having to have the immunoglobulin injection, which I presume is what your doctor was talking about. I was told it can be very hard, or impossible, to get in some countries but I did not get the impression this was the case in the UK. But that's probably irrelevant as you're meant to have it straight away. You would still receive anti rabies injections.

We all decided to have it. I think I paid considerably more than £30 a shot but I have deliberately blanked it out of my mind as I had to pay for three people. (My daughter only needed one shot having been treated for a rabies on a trip to South Africa.)

I did quite a lot of research and a lot of stuff about rabies, how long the injection lasts etc is very vague. But one thing that was useful was knowing that you massively reduce the chance of rabies if you immediately wash the wound and treat with iodine. We always carry iodine with us in countries which have rabies now.
 
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