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Rabies

• Overview
• Symptoms
• Treatment
• Prevention

Prevention:

Prevention depends upon enforcement of the following public health policies:

• Vaccination of dogs and cats by 4 months of age, followed by a booster shot one year later, and then another one every 1 or 3 years, depending on the type of vaccine used.
• Avoiding contact with animals not known to you
• Vaccination of people in high-risk occupations or certain travelers
• Quarantine regulations on importing dogs and other mammals in disease-free countries

References:

Marx J. Rosen’s Emergency Medicine: Concepts and Clinical Practice. 5th ed. St. Louis, Mo: Mosby; 2002:1837-1838.

Stantic-Pavlinic M. Public health concerns in bat rabies across Europe. Euro Surveill . 2005 Nov 1;10(11) .

Brookes SM, Aegerter JN, Smith GC. European bat lyssavirus in Scottish bats. Emerg Infect Dis . 2005 Apr;11(4):572-8.

Cohen J, Powderly WG. Infectious Diseases . 2nd ed. New York, NY: Elsevier; 2004:1503-1506.

• Review Date: 1/6/2006
• Reviewed By: Monica Gandhi MD, MPH, Assistant Professor, Division of Infectious Diseases, UCSF, San Francisco, CA. Review provided by VeriMed Healthcare Network.

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