What is the preventive treatment for a potential rabies exposure (e.g., animal bite or bat exposure)?
If a physician determines that rabies exposure may have occurred, they will recommend PEP. Preventive treatment requires prompt washing of the bite site with soap and copious amounts of water, followed by the injection of PEP which includes rabies immune globulin (dosage depending on weight) and five doses of rabies vaccine injected into the arm muscle on days 0, 3, 7, 14 and 28 after exposure. Rabies preventive vaccine is no longer given in the abdomen.
