Question: Help - My 3 year old boy baby has been bitten by a Rat - Does he need Rabies Vaccine ?
Answer: Rabies is transmitted through the bites, scratches, abrasions, or contact with animal saliva via mucous membranes or a break in the skin.
Dog, cat and bats can transmit rabies. Raccoons, skunks, foxes and coyotes can also transmit rabies. Rabies has been reported in large rodents (woodchucks and beavers) but small rodents, such as squirrels, chipmunks, rats, hamsters, gerbils, guinea pigs, mice, and lagomorphs (rabbits and hares) are almost never identified as infected with rabies virus; there has never been a case of transmission to a human from one of these animals.
Answer: Rabies is transmitted through the bites, scratches, abrasions, or contact with animal saliva via mucous membranes or a break in the skin.
Hence, your child is NOT going to get Rabies from this rat bite. However, I do suggest that All children are at a risk for dog bites (& monkey bites in certain regions of India) and hence I personally recommend that every parent should consider Rabies vaccine for their child routinely to prevent this fatal disease. I have given the Rabies vaccine to my daughter :-)
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