Flatlined, unless they have substantially changed the wording of it in the last year, your vaccination status is not what determines what happens to the animal, it is the animal’s vaccionation status (and species) that counts for quarantine purposes.
And the usual recommendation is a 10 day quarantine, regardless of the bitten person’s vaccination status. If they’re biting and they have symptoms, it is usually terminal. Note that there are people who will euthanize the animal if it has bitten someone, even without the quarantine, and even if the animal had valid vaccination status.
What having the pre-exposure vaccine allows, though, is that they are usually the people selected to deal with suspected rabies/unknown rabid status. For example, during the Katrina follow-up, I worked at the animal shelter formed for pet refugees. Since I had the pre-exposure vaccine, guess who got to medicate all the not so nice, stressed out kitties that had bitten the other volunteers? Oh, joy!
Also, in my work line, they are wary about letting people without pre-exposure vaccine to be on the necropsy floor. And if it is a rabies suspect, only residents, pathologists, or techs are allowed to handle the brain and nervous tissue, not the veterinary students. So I get to remove brains from potential rabid cases.
In 1990, my shots cost about $1500. I didn’t have insurance, so I had to go on a payment plan with the hospital. After three payments, they sold the account to a collections agency… who apparently lost money on me, as they never even tried to get into contact with me to let me know where to send the check.
Damn, but our system is inefficient. I honestly don’t understand how anyone, other than an insurance exec, can defend it.
I thought you had to get the shots right away - not to wait until a clear determination was made whether the animal was actually rabid or not?
Everyone in my family has had the pre-exposure series (it was a precondition of moving to Egypt with my husband’s employer several years ago). But when my son was bitten a few months by a feral cat, they just gave him the next shot; they said that waiting until the cat was tested would take too long.
Nope, especially after what I mentioned above with the recent backlog in vaccine production. Usually they wait until confirmation if the animal was rabid or not before starting the series. OTOH, if the bite was straight to the face, I can see where they would treat first, ask later. But not for most cases.
I guess it depends on where you are, but in the states, you can get confirmation that the animal is rabid the same day the head is sent to the diagnostic lab. Now, our diagnostic lab is not the state-sanctioned confirmatory lab, but many labs run a prelim test, then send the rest of the sample (if warranted) to the state lab for confirmation. Still, the test itself takes no more than 2 hours to run (including set up and reading results).
I’ve read that anti-venin for snakebites is pretty high. From what few things I’ve seen in various documentaries, possibly a couple grand per vial.:eek:
See post #24. You get billed, you don’t pay, it goes to collections, you don’t pay, then (maybe) you get sued. Not sure what happens at that point, but they can’t get blood from a tur… er, stone.
I paid around $300 for my pre-exposure series in the early 2000s. Insurance did not cover it, I didn’t even bother to submit it. I was doing it for work in a wildlife clinic and needed the shots to work with the raccoons, skunks, fox, bats, etc.
There was a large group of us getting vaccinated all at one time, so the cost of the vaccine was lower. I have my titers checked every couple of years and have not needed the booster yet.
IIRC, the high cost of the post-exposure protocol is the cost of the Imunnoglobulin, not the vaccine. A vial of the vaccine is expensive, but the Ig is more expensive.
The CDC also has a link to assistance programs to help people who are uninsured or under-insured pay for post-exposure treatment.
My sister has had two sets of vaccinations in the past 5 years; one as a requirement for vet school and a second set after a cat she was treating (she graduated last year) went apeshit and bit and scratched her arm all to hell. The ER checked her titers and she was at zero, as if she’d never had the vaccine to begin with! They will check her again next year, but it seems that she’s one of those people for whom it just doesn’t work.
She has a separate auto-immune disease, so it’s possible (well, it’s a WAG) that either the disease itself or it’s treatment somehow negates the vaccine. It’s rather weird.
I had post-potential-exposure shots a few years back, required to be from the emergency room because of some protocol about conserving the limited supply. My insurance happily gouged me for $100 per emergency room visit – it would have been far less at my GP’s clinic – but no other costs. The series was stopped after 4-5 shots because the cat was still alive and the stuff was, after all, in short supply.
To those who mentioned the point, scratching is reason to give the shots if rabies is found in the animal. We did not know this and when Mrs Napier got scratched we did not pursue shots. Then our vet told us, a week later, a rabid cat had been caught where she was scratched, and it matched the description (orange tabby male with injured front feet). This was 6 days later. So she got the first set of shots, and the wound, which had already healed nicely, swelled and got red and hot and bumpy and itchy. We take this as an indication but not proof that she did have rabies virus or virus fragments in the wound. Scary.
Lots of snips happened…but you are probably right. It might be where I live, and that I don’t report bites when I mishandle ferals. The bites are my fault, not because the critter is rabid.
Now, if I get bit by a rat, I’m going to report it and get treated. I always assume that a raccoon I see during the day is rabid. I’m quite sure that the coyote that attacked me was rabid, but we didn’t have physical contact.
I’ve not had a cat or dog tested. The ones I handle bite from fear, and I’ve gotten smarter. The last time I was bit was 3 years ago. A fat ankle biter who was running around in the highway.
Way back in the antedeluvian times of 1948, there were 13 members of our family that attended a Mother’s Day get-to-gether. What made it interesting was that another attendee of this festivity was a dog, who got sick during the weekend and turned out to have rabies.
So all 13 of us got to daily traipse down to Doc Roberson’s office and get our shots. Those of us who were at the party but had no contact with the dog got 14 shots, and those who actually touched the animal got the full series of 21. IIRC, there were 10 in the first group, and 3 in the second, for a total of 203 shots given.
The Great State of Illinois provided the vaccine free, which I thought was pretty good of them. But Doc Roverson’s bill for giving all those shots was $172.00. Dad, who was pretty P.O.'d about the whole thing (he had never liked that rotten dog anyway), put his foot down and sent the $172 bill to the owners of the dog, and it was eventually paid by them. So that was what it cost back in the olden times.
Ever since I’ve always heard about what a horrible experience that gettin rabies shots was. I can state with certainty that a flue shot is just as bad (or even worse). We got each shot in the upper arm, alternating arms each day, with a really small syringe and needle. It was really a piece of cake, except I had to leave high school classes once a day for a trip to the Doctor’s office. Bummer!
I’m glad that Mrs Napier is doing well. I agree that its better to be safe where rabies is involved. One of the many reasons I give my ferals shots is for the herd immunity thing. (and yes, I do trap them every year and stick needles in them. this is not as hard as it sounds)
I hope that the Mrs won’t stop trying to help hurt cats in the future. I’m pretty sure that this was a one time thing, and that the poor kitty had hurt feet from fighting his way from a coyote or something. Poor Mrs and poor kitty.
Wait, what? I need get my boosters every 2 years. That is after the initial 3 shot program. And apparently if am unlucky enough to get infected apparently they still give anti rabies shots post exposure.
Yellow Fever and Tetanus boosters are every ten years.
Manila, where are you and what do you do that you need rabies boosters so often? People with anti-immune disease (like mnemosyne’s sister) probably need them more often, but I’ve had them for 8 years (after the initial 3 shots), and my titers are still what they consider “strong”.
And IIRC, what changes in the post exposure versus the pre-exposure is that, if you have the vaccine, the amount of shots (immunoglobulin and/or vaccine) is reduced. If you do not have the vaccine, you get it along with the immunoglobulin shots.
Am currently in Gabon, I travel into the jungle but not specifically dealing with animals. Its just Company rules stating that my vaccinations should not be more than 2 years old. I’ll check my vaccination ‘passport’ for details of the renewal date. The will not consider titer results if you are outwith 12 months since initial vaccination. This was also the case with another employer when I worked in Azerbaijan
Am certain that this company would not spend money on its employees’ health if not absolutely essential. So I think I will need a little more research to find out which organisation mandates this regimen
Oh, joy!