post-exposure prophylaxis

Rabies is one of the few infections a person can still be saved from after catching it, but only before symptoms begin. Post-exposure prophylaxis, usually shortened to PEP, is the emergency response to a possible exposure, and the World Health Organization sets out three parts to it. The wound is washed with soap and water for at least 15 minutes. A full course of human rabies vaccine is given promptly. Where it is clinically indicated, rabies immunoglobulin or monoclonal antibodies are injected into the wound itself. Together these stop the virus before it can reach the central nervous system.

Timing is everything. Given promptly the course prevents death, and once clinical symptoms appear rabies is virtually always fatal. Anyone bitten or scratched by an animal that might carry the virus should seek care immediately rather than wait to see what happens. More than 29 million people receive human rabies vaccine each year, and an estimated 59,000 people still die of rabies annually, most of them where the course is unaffordable or too far away. That is why countries working towards elimination make it free and available in every district.