What is the treatment for rabies exposure?
Prevention treatment is only successful if started before symptoms appear. It involves getting both rabies immune globulin and rabies vaccine. Rabies Immune Globulin: • Rabies Immune Globulin (RabIg) is rabies antibodies taken from donated human blood. It is given once, usually at the same time as the first dose of rabies vaccine. RabIg is given by needle into the area(s) of the bite or scratch and in a different place on your body than the vaccine. Rabies Vaccine: • If you have never received rabies vaccine before, you will get 5 doses or shots in the upper arm over a 28-day period. The vaccine makes your immune system produce antibodies against the rabies virus. Antibodies are proteins that help to fight infection. • If you have received a full series of rabies vaccine in the past, you will get 2 shots of rabies vaccine over a 3-day period. These will boost your antibodies against rabies.
