Rabies shots for people

Factual Questions
1

It seems to me that it’s pretty common knowledge that if you are bitten by an animal that may have rabies, you must undergo several painful shots in the stomach. However, according to this article that is no longer the case. It states that “in the ‘dark ages’ you would have to get 21 shots in the stomach” but that now it is five shots in the arm over a one-month period.

At what point in history did this change? What was the reason that it took so many shots and why was it necessary to give the shot in the stomach. When this was necessary, why was it so painful (if it was at all)?

2

Back in… um, I guess it’d be 1990, or just before… I was bitten by a kitten that turned out to be rabid.

Yeah, I made the local news and everything. Yay me.

I had to have about 5-6 shots, all in places like the bicep, thigh, butt, that sort of thing… and then a few follow-up shots over the next few weeks.

It hurt, but it was nothing compared to the cost- $1500 for the series, and me without any insurance at the time. Ouch.

3

The reason the old shots were given in the stomach was because it was a lot of fluid that had to be injected. The abdomen has extra available volume. Recent more effective vaccines get the same oomph with less volume, so they can be given in the arm. Couldn’t tell you exactly when the switch was, though.

4

Ouch indeed. Did you have any complications? Or do you not want to talk about it? This seems like interesting MPSIMS thread material to me.

5

I had the “dark ages” series back in the mid-sixties, when my family lived in Indonesia. I was five years old, and my dad was the only doctor in the area, so he gave me the shots and self-administered them as well, since we’d both been bitten by our dog. And because the dog had been vaccinated but got rabies anyway, my dad was worried about the potency of the vaccine, so as I recall, we got to have ten extra days of shots, just in case. Now, I was five at the time, so my recollection may be suspect, and my dad is no longer with us to ask. It may indeed have “only” been 21.

The only complication I know of was my life-long fear of needles and vaccinations.

6

1995 I had to have the rabies series (7 shots, $400 per pop) for a dog bite. The “stuff” was the color and consistency of grape jelly, but was given in my deltoid. Didn’t hurt any more than a regular shot.

7

(I just, finally, checked this thread again, and saw your question. Sorry…)

Not much to talk about, really. I didn’t have insurance, and that $1500 was the cost of the shots. Yeah, shocked me, too.

At the time, I was delivering pizza. If I hadn’t had that job, I could’ve gotten the shots covered by the city… but since I was employed (if not particularly gainfully), I had to pay for the shots my own damn self.