Reply #5: Post-exposure prophylaxis (PEP) consists of a single injection of

[kestrel91316]

rabies immune globulin (into the area of the bite wound, ouch!) and a rabies vaccination (tiny little minor shot in the arm) on Day 1. Then, depending on your prior status (unvaccinated vs vaccinated) there is a variable number of repeats of the tiny arm shots over the next month, IIRC.

It's a farsight better, more effective, and less painful than the old duck embryo vaccine they used over 20 years ago - those suckers were HORRIBLY PAINFUL, and if you were unvaccinated you had to have one a day for 21 days and they gave them in the abdominal musculature. OUCH!!!!! I had just ONE of thoe shots, before the newer vaccine came out, while in vet school, and I thought I was not long for this world. The new stuff is SOOO much easier to handle.

Because it travels slowly up the nerve tissue before it reaches the brain, rabies is the only viral disease preventable after-the-fact. There is time in most cases to give the series of shots to stimulate the immune system before the virus reaches the brain and kills. PEP is usually effective.