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Dog Licked On Lower Leg And Itchy Rashes Appeared. Do I Need To Get Rabies Vaccination?

Posted on Fri, 22 Mar 2013

Question: A dog licked me on my lower legs (I am in a big city in Jiangsu, China). The problem is that I had a kind of shaving rash (from shaving earlier in the morning) on the legs, so am not sure whether the skin counted as 'broken'. The itching seemed to increase in the 30 mins after the lick. I have been previously vaccinated (within the last 6 months) with the rabies series (x3 jabs). Should I go to get the pre-exposure jabs? (by the way, the dog appeared healthy, and appeared to be an owned dog, but I would not be able to trace it). Best wishes,

Answered by Dr. Synthyia Bhagat (40 minutes later)

Hi XXXXXXX

Thanks for writing to us.

Since you are not sure if it is a lick or broken skin I will advise you not to take any risk.
Wash leg with plenty of water for 10 min with soap.

Rabies is a fatal disease so no chance can be taken.
I advise you to take complete vaccination as per schedule that is day 0, 3, 7, 14, 28.
Reason being:
-previously you have taken 3 shots of vaccine. After having a complete series of 5 vaccines you need only 2 shots on day 0 and 3 in case of re-vaccination.
-also dog cannot be observed for 10 days.

Hope I have answered your query, if you have any other question I would be glad to help.
God bless!!

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Above answer was peer-reviewed by : Dr. Vaishalee Punj