Rabies is probably the only virus where a vaccine is given after you get exposed (technically not infected yet, because you need to get it quickly enough).
I was taken in for a post-exposure vaccination as a child, though they didn't give me one after figuring out I wasn't bitten really (I still am very unclear about what happened) and just had thorns all over my legs from jump into some bushes away from the stray dog.
Would've been a painful set of shots in the belly, which some other kids got.
And the dog was left in chains with a giant bowl of water to see if it drank any over the next week.
Rabies and Tetanus seemed to be the "vaccine magic" diseases of my childhood, with very different outcomes with vaccinations after exposure.
> Rabies is probably the only virus where a vaccine is given after you get exposed (technically not infected yet, because you need to get it quickly enough).
Incidentally, the tetanus vaccine is unusual as it actually primes your immune system to attack the toxin produced by the tetanus bacteria, not the bacteria themselves. The bacteria are especially harmful only because of the toxin they release.
> Rabies is probably the only virus where a vaccine is given after you get exposed
People with high risk of exposure (like vets and zoo workers) take the vaccine periodically as a preventive measure too. At least they do so in India. Maybe in the US they don't because of the cost of the vaccine.
Same in US. The reason its not given to the general population is that it has to be repeated every 3-5 years, and you still need evaluation and possibly PEP after exposure. Its just that the PEP is much less severe.
Rabies is probably the only virus where a vaccine is given after you get exposed (technically not infected yet, because you need to get it quickly enough).
I was taken in for a post-exposure vaccination as a child, though they didn't give me one after figuring out I wasn't bitten really (I still am very unclear about what happened) and just had thorns all over my legs from jump into some bushes away from the stray dog.
Would've been a painful set of shots in the belly, which some other kids got.
And the dog was left in chains with a giant bowl of water to see if it drank any over the next week.
Rabies and Tetanus seemed to be the "vaccine magic" diseases of my childhood, with very different outcomes with vaccinations after exposure.