Many people like to tease the neighbor's dog or stray cat, but in the summer, wearing shorts and short sleeves to tease the cat and the dog also increases the risk of being scratched.
Xiao Wang, who is in college, likes small animals very much, and often goes to feed the stray cats on campus after class at night. The night before, she took out cat food from the bedroom as usual to feed, but accidentally her fingers were cut by the kitten's sharp teeth. After returning to the dormitory, she repeatedly rinsed with tap water, and because there was no obvious bleeding, she thought about going to the hospital the next day for further treatment.
Chen Chuang, deputy director of the emergency department of Zhejiang Hospital, said that there have been many emergency patients like Xiao Wang recently, especially after entering May, the number of cases of pet injuries has increased significantly, and more than 30 cases come to the hospital for the first time every day. The weather is getting hotter and hotter, everyone wears "cool", the skin is more exposed, and it is more likely to be scratched and bitten by cats and dogs at this time.
These wounds have the potential to cause rabies, an infectious disease of animal origin caused by rabies virus infection, with a 100% case fatality rate if there is no effective treatment.
Chen Chuang pointed out that rabies susceptible animals are canine, feline and bat and other viviparous mammals, its incubation period is usually 1~3 months, 99% of patients within a year of onset, the initial symptoms are fever, the wound often tingling, burning pain. As the virus spreads in the central nervous system, it develops into fatal progressive encephalomyelitis, which is divided into two situations: manic patients have symptoms of hyperfunction, agitation, and hydrophobia, and die of cardiopulmonary failure a few days later; Paralytic patients have less severe symptoms, but the course of the disease is long, starting from the bite or scratch site, gradually paralyzing the muscles, then gradually breathing, heart failure, and eventually death.
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The weather is getting warmer
The number of dog injuries is on the rise
Since May, the number of people attending the dog injury clinic of Hangzhou Occupational Disease Prevention and Treatment Hospital has been 890 or 90 per day, and more than 100 at most, double the number before. According to the outpatient data of Hangzhou Occupational Disease Prevention and Treatment Hospital, summer is the season of high incidence of dog injuries, and the number of dog injury patients who come for treatment will increase. Dr. Cao Kaiqi of the emergency department of Zhejiang Provincial Tongde Hospital said that the number of patients with dog injuries received by the emergency department has increased significantly recently, "From the outpatient situation, mainly young patients in their twenties and thirties, mainly scratched and bitten by domestic pet dogs, pet cats, etc.; It was also partly scratched by wild cats and wild dogs. In cities, particularly serious bites are rare. "One of the 26-year-old male patients was scratched after teasing a neighbor's dog, accompanied by the dog's owner." The neighbor's puppy is very cute and docile, and I usually play with it. When I went out in the morning and saw the neighbor walking the dog, I walked over to tease the dog, just squatted, but I didn't expect the puppy to suddenly pounce and grab my forearm. "The male patient was wearing short sleeves and the two red scratches on the forearms of both hands were very noticeable. After Dr. Cao's examination, the male patient's skin was scratched deeply, and there was bleeding, which was a third-degree exposure. After debridement and bandaging, in addition to the rabies vaccine, male patients also need to add tetanus breaking injection and rabies immune globulin injection.
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It is important to treat the wound as soon as possible to save yourself
If there is no significant bleeding, it is necessary to seek medical attention promptly
Rabies exposure is defined as bitten, scratched, licked mucous membranes, or broken skin, open wounds, or mucous membranes that may be infected with rabies virus by rabies, suspected rabies, or rabies host animals whose health is uncertain. Rabies exposure is classified into three levels according to the mode of exposure and degree of exposure: level 1: contact, feeding of animals, or licking of intact skin; Grade II: bare skin bitten, or minor scratches without bleeding, abrasions of the third degree: single or multiple penetrating skin bites or scratches, licked or open wounds on broken skin and mucous membranes, mucosal contamination.
Generally, primary exposure does not require disposal; Secondary exposure should prompt wound management and rabies vaccination at the canine injury clinic as soon as possible within 24 hours; Tertiary exposure should prompt wound management and rabies immune globulin or serum immunization, followed by rabies vaccine.
Chen Chuang, deputy director of the emergency department of Zhejiang Hospital, stressed that it is very important to treat the wound as soon as possible and carry out self-first aid before going to a medical institution for vaccination. How to properly handle rabies exposed wounds, he pointed out: "Rinse the wound with running tap water with a certain pressure for 15 minutes, and use weak alkaline detergents such as soap, etc., which has a good cleaning effect on the virus." ”
He reminded that within 24 hours after receiving the rabies vaccine, redness, swelling, pain, and itching can appear at the injection site, which generally can be relieved by itself without special treatment; There may also be mild fever, muscle pain, vomiting, abdominal pain and other symptoms, which generally resolve spontaneously without treatment. It should be noted that the timeliness of the rabies vaccine is half a year, that is, if a pet bite occurs after half a year, it is necessary to seek medical attention in time for booster immunization or vaccination.
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Learn more about rabies
1. What is rabies? What are the specific manifestations?
Rabies is an acute infectious disease caused by the rabies virus, which can be clinically divided into "manic" and "paralyzed". The former is manifested as extreme fear or excitement, fear of water and wind, pharyngeal muscle spasm, dyspnea, difficulty urinating and defecating, and sweating and salivation, while the latter is most common with limb soft paralysis. The incubation period is usually 1~3 months, and it is extremely rare to develop within a week or relapse for more than 1 year. Once ill, almost 100% of patients die. Rabies, although fatal, is effectively preventable.
2. Which animals are at risk of rabies after being scratched and bitten?
There are mainly canines, cats, mustelias, raccoons, pterodactyls and certain domestic animals, including dogs, cats, bats, foxes, raccoons, jackals, wolves, leopards, ferrets, etc. Rabies is a zoonotic disease, with dogs causing more than 99% of human rabies worldwide.
3. What are the general measures for rabies exposure prevention?
First of all, it is necessary to wash and rinse the wound thoroughly, which can reduce the virus in the wound. The second is timely and full vaccination with rabies vaccine, which can induce the body to produce antibodies, thereby reducing the risk of the virus entering the peripheral nerves. If necessary, rabies immune globulin is also injected into periwound infiltration, which provides passive immunity and neutralizes rabies virus at the wound site before antibodies are produced. If there are concerns about the efficacy of rabies vaccine, rabies virus neutralizing antibody testing can be performed after the full vaccination process.
4. What should I do if I want to be tested?
After full immunization with a qualified, formally obtained vaccine, a rapid fluorescent foci suppression test (RFFIT) should be performed if the immune effect is to be measured. This is the standard detection method recommended by WHO for rabies virus neutralizing antibodies, and it is also one of the standard methods for detecting rabies virus neutralizing antibodies stipulated by the current pharmacopoeia in mainland China, which can correctly evaluate the level of neutralizing antibodies after vaccination.
5. Who needs to be tested?
One is people with low immunity, and the other is people who strongly demand testing.
6. When is the test time?
14~28 days after full vaccination is the best time for testing, venous blood is collected, and test results can generally be obtained within 10 working days.
Source: Sichuan CDC