40 million people in my country are bitten by cats and dogs every year. How to prevent and treat rabies? Expert response

2021 Animal Injury Prevention and Control Summit Forum was held in Beijing on December 25.

About 40 million people are bitten by cats and dogs in my country every year, animal injuries have become a common problem in emergency surgery. According to incomplete statistics, 40 million people are bitten by cats and dogs in my country every year, and the number of venomous snake bites exceeds 300,000.

Experts introduced that in addition to causing tissue damage, animal injuries may also cause bacterial and viral infections, poisoning, allergic shock and other serious consequences. For example, the most common cat and dog bites may cause rabies and tetanus if the treatment is not standardized. The mortality rate of rabies is close to 100%. Viper bites, wasp stings, and ant stings can cause poisoning and severe allergic reactions.

At present, some grassroots and especially remote areas have insufficient experience in treating animal injuries, irregular diagnosis and treatment, and a high rate of misdiagnosis and missed diagnosis. It is urgent to improve the standardization and homogeneity of animal injuries.

Inspector General of the Medical Administration and Medical Administration Bureau of the National Health Commission Guo Yanhong: Further strengthen the construction of the animal injury prevention and control system, we must promote the establishment of standardized animal injury emergency clinics, help grass-roots underdeveloped areas to improve diagnosis and treatment levels and diagnosis and treatment capabilities, and let the public understand and master the correct common sense of animal injury prevention and control and tetanus prevention. How to avoid tetanus and rabies after being injured by animals? In August this year, the National Health Commission issued the "Specifications on Diagnosis and Treatment of Common Animal Injuries", involving 14 animal injuries and rabies such as dogs, cats, and snakes. At the forum, experts remind that after being injured by dogs, cats and other animals, they should go to the hospital for standardized disposal and receive vaccination in time to avoid the occurrence of tetanus and rabies. Experts remind you to stay away from stray dogs and not have excessive contact with pets such as cats and dogs, especially not letting pets lick the mucous membranes such as people's mouth, eyes, etc. If you are bitten by cats, dogs and other animals, you should rinse the wound with normal saline or water as soon as possible.

President of the Animal Injury Treatment Branch of the Chinese Medical Rescue Association and Deputy Director of the Emergency Department of Peking University People's Hospital: Because it is well washed away, it is better to wash away bacteria and viruses. If the injury is severe, hold the wound down as soon as possible to stop the bleeding and go to the nearest medical institution to find professionals to deal with it in a standardized manner. Experts believe that once an animal with a high risk of rabies transmission is injured, even if it is just mucosal contact, it is necessary to undergo standardized wound treatment and receive rabies vaccination. The incubation period of rabies is usually 1 to 3 months. After an animal is injured, it can prevent and deal with it correctly, which can prevent rabies by almost 100%. Tetanus should also be prevented after an animal is injured. Tetanus is an acute and toxic disease characterized by continuous ankylocon contraction and paroxysmal spasm of the whole body caused by C. tetanus invasion of the human body through skin or mucosal wounds, causing C. Tetanus severely ill patients may experience asphyxiation, lung infection and organ failure. Even after active treatment, the global mortality rate is still 30% to 50%. Injecting tetanus vaccine is the most effective and economical way to prevent tetanus.

Vice President of the Animal Injury Treatment Branch of the Chinese Medical Rescue Association and Deputy Director of the Emergency Department of Peking University First Hospital: Vaccine prevention can enable the human body to have at least 5 to 10 years of protection. For people with high tetanus exposure, we recommend that you give preventive vaccine injections before being injured. We call it pre-exposure immunization. For these wounded or patients who have not undergone pre-exposure immunization, you should go to the medical institution for full vaccination of tetanus vaccine in time after the injury. The number of rabies in my country has dropped by about 20% every year. The reporter learned from the China Animal Injury Control Summit Forum that in recent years, my country has continuously strengthened rabies prevention and control work. The number of rabies reported to occur continues to decline at a rate of about 20% every year. More than 20 provinces have reported the incidence to zero or single digits, which has laid the foundation for my country to eliminate rabies. Monitoring data shows that in 2020, a total of 202 cases of rabies were reported nationwide, affecting 143 districts and counties, down 94% and 86% from the peak of 3,300 and 984 counties and districts in 2007, respectively. Rabies cases show the characteristics of "three more": there are many cases in rural areas, accounting for more than 65% of the total number of cases; the number of cases in men is about twice that of women; there are more cases of children under 15 years old and people over 50 years old. Rabies caused by dogs account for about 95%. The number of people in the country who are injured by animals in the country each year for prevention and treatment of rabies, and the cost of people receiving rabies vaccination, injecting immunoglobulin and wound medical treatment exceeds 7 billion yuan each year. Relevant WHO research shows that the dog immunity coverage rate in a region reaches more than 70%, which can effectively block the spread of rabies.

President of the Animal Injury Treatment Branch of the Chinese Medical Rescue Association and Deputy Director of the Emergency Department of Peking University People's Hospital: We must raise dogs in a civilized manner in accordance with the law. For high-risk areas, especially high-risk groups, children and the elderly have frequent contact with animals, I would rather recommend that they get vaccinated in advance. At the same time, we should vigorously promote the vaccination of dogs. If an animal, especially a dog, has received more than two qualified veterinary vaccines, then we believe that the animal is safe and generally will not get sick.