Pregnant women must be vaccinated after being bitten

As the saying goes, it's better to be safe than sorry. Although dog bites are not particularly common, the occurrence is still relatively high. Especially when a pregnant woman is bitten, it raises concern. Some pregnant women hesitate because they fear vaccines may affect the fetus. So how should we handle it after a pregnant woman is bitten?

After being bitten by a dog or other animals, pregnant women should promptly wash the bite area with soapy water, then rinse thoroughly with clean water, apply iodine repeatedly, perform wound expansion without suturing, and finally receive a rabies vaccine. Those with severe bites should also be injected with rabies immune globulin before or at the same time as vaccination. Whether to terminate the pregnancy depends on the specific situation and cannot be generalized. Generally, the rabies virus (detailed introduced) does not enter the bloodstream, so it basically does not affect the fetus. There have been reports of several pregnant women at 6-8 months gestation bitten by dogs, who developed rabies shortly after delivery. Some underwent cesarean sections due to symptom onset, but delivered healthy babies, though the mothers died soon after childbirth. Therefore, pregnant women bitten by suspicious animals should receive vaccination promptly, with no impact on the mother or child.

Therefore, pregnant women must be vaccinated against rabies after being bitten by a dog. In theory, the rabies vaccine is an inactivated vaccine and does not cross the placental barrier to infect or harm the fetus after injection. Like most vaccines, the rabies vaccine has lost the ability of the wild strain to transmit disease, and the neutralizing antibodies produced cannot cross the placenta, having little effect on the fetus. For pregnancies within 8 weeks, the injury site and severity should be considered carefully, with cautious use or delay of rabies vaccination. So far, there have been no reports of fetal harm caused by pregnant women receiving the rabies vaccine.

Vaccination of pregnant women with the rabies vaccine does not affect normal fetal growth and development, so there is no contraindication for its use. It is worth noting that local wound care is very important, greatly reducing the incidence of rabies; the sooner the treatment, the better. Even if several hours or days have passed, the wound should still be cleaned, as the rabies virus can generally remain at the wound site for 3 days.

Try to avoid contact with unfamiliar dogs

The main transmission route of the rabies virus is through saliva when an infected rabid animal bites a person, allowing the virus to enter the body. The rabies virus can also enter through intact mucous membranes or enter the body through liquids containing the virus splashing into the eyes via the conjunctiva, but such routes are rare. Additionally, infection via inhalation of aerosolized rabies virus droplets is also rare and would only occur if the concentration of virus in the air is extremely high.

Human-to-human transmission of rabies through general contact does not occur; theoretically, only a rabid person biting a healthy individual could transmit the virus. Rabid individuals or those a few days before symptom onset may also transmit rabies sexually. The risk of infection from rabies-contaminated equipment is very small, but organ or tissue transplantation from a rabid person to a healthy individual carries a very high risk.

The rabies virus survives poorly outside the body and quickly loses activity once separated from the host. Therefore, indirect transmission of rabies is generally unlikely. The rabies virus is sensitive to disinfectants such as acid, alkali, chlorhexidine, formalin, 70% alcohol, 0.01% iodine solution, and 1%-2% soapy water, all of which can inactivate the virus.