After a dog bite: wash the wound first, then get rabies vaccination advice

A dog bite is easy to underestimate, especially if the wound looks small or the animal is a neighbour's pet. In India, dog bites remain the usual way people are exposed to rabies. Once rabies symptoms begin, the disease is almost always fatal. That is why the hours after a bite, or even a scratch or a lick on broken skin, matter so much.

The first step is not a home paste. Wash the wound at once with soap and running water for several minutes, and keep rinsing. This simple step reduces the viral load in the wound. Do not pack it with turmeric, chilli powder, mud or oil. A clean cloth can be used to cover it until you reach a clinic. If the bleeding is heavy or the wound is on the face, neck, hands or genitals, treat it as urgent.

A doctor will then grade the exposure. A lick on intact skin is handled differently from a lick on a cut, a scratch that draws blood, or a bite that punctures the skin. Category of exposure decides whether you need a course of rabies vaccine alone, or vaccine plus rabies immunoglobulin infiltrated around the wound. The schedule and the products used follow national guidelines. What you should not do is skip a dose because the animal "looks well" or because someone says a single injection is enough.

If the dog can be observed safely, that information helps, but observation is not a reason to delay the first vaccine when the exposure warrants it. A stray that cannot be found, a wild animal, or a bite from a bat or other mammal should be treated as a potential rabies exposure until a clinician says otherwise. Tetanus vaccination may also be needed if your tetanus shots are not up to date, and badly crushed or dirty wounds sometimes need antibiotics.

Children are bitten on the face and hands more often than adults, and they may not describe a lick or a scratch clearly. Ask, look at the skin, and err on the side of a medical review.

If you are in Begumpet or nearby, you can get advice and post-exposure vaccination at Vivekananda Hospital in Begumpet without waiting to "see how the wound looks tomorrow." Bring any record of previous rabies or tetanus shots if you have them. Keep the wound clean, watch for spreading redness or fever, and complete the full vaccine course you are given. A finished course is what protects you, not the first injection alone.

Families in Begumpet can ask about the rabies vaccine schedule at the Vivekananda Hospital vaccination centre.