How to correctly understand rabies vaccine

In fact, everyone is familiar with rabies vaccine, because we often hear about the need for rabies vaccination in life. It mainly refers to a vaccine that must be given after being bitten by some animals to prevent rabies. The injection of this vaccine can prevent the indirect and direct transmission of the virus in cells and reduce the proliferation of the virus. After being bitten by an animal, the sooner the vaccine is injected, the better the effect.

1. What is rabies vaccine?

Rabies vaccine is a vaccine with a long history. The first person to produce rabies vaccine was Pasteur of France. In 1882, it successfully applied the method of serial passaging to weaken the virulence of the virus and used adapted virus strains to produce vaccines. The rabies vaccine currently produced in my country is made by inoculating primary hamster kidney cells with fixed rabies virus. After cultivation, the venom is harvested, concentrated, purified, refined, and added with aluminum hydroxide adjuvant. After passing comprehensive testing, it becomes a vaccine for preventing rabies.

2. Why can rabies vaccination prevent rabies?

There is only one serotype of rabies virus, and the antigenic properties of rabies virus are the same around the world. After vaccination with rabies vaccine, anti-rabies virus antibodies may appear in human blood. These antibodies can prevent the virus from spreading directly between cells and reduce the amount of virus proliferation. At the same time, they can also eliminate free rabies viruses and prevent the virus from reproducing and spreading, thereby preventing rabies.

3. What to do after being bitten by an animal

If you are bitten by an animal (such as a dog, cat, wolf, etc.) and you are not sure whether the animal is healthy and non-toxic, you should go to the hospital to treat the wound in time, or wash the wound repeatedly and thoroughly with soapy water by yourself. This will wash away most of the invading virus, and then go to the health and epidemic prevention department as soon as possible to get a rabies vaccine. For those who are severely bitten, in addition to thorough local cleaning and disinfection, rabies serum should be infiltrated and injected around the wound. Then give rabies vaccine. Bite wounds should not be bandaged or sutured, and the wounds should be left exposed as much as possible. The immune effect of rabies vaccination is directly related to the time of injection. The earlier the injection is given after a bite, the better the immune effect and the greater the chance of protection.

4. What are the contraindications for rabies vaccination?

Since rabies is a fatal disease with an almost 100% mortality rate, there is still no effective treatment in the world so far. Therefore, anyone bitten by a rabid animal or an animal whose venom is unknown should be given a rabies vaccine immediately. If a pregnant woman is bitten, she should also receive the full course of rabies vaccination in a timely manner.