KUCHING: Proper wound washing is important especially after coming into contact or getting bitten by rabid or non-rabid animals.
In stating this, Consultant Infection Disease Physician from the State Health Department Dr Chua Hock Hin said post bite management as recommended by the World Health Organisation (WHO) is very important.
“As rabies is now endemic in Sarawak, the first thing you have to do if you’re bitten by an animal, whether rabid or non-rabid, is to wash the wounds for 15 minutes under running tap water with soap and disinfectant.
“Wound washing must also be supervised among children so as to wash off as much virus as possible from the saliva of the said animal because that would decrease the chance of the virus inculcating deeper into the wound.
“Therefore, prompt management of the wound is very important,” he stressed when presenting a talk on Bite Case Management in conjunction with the Rabies in Borneo Conference 2022 at a hotel here, yesterday (Sept 27).
He said good wound care could reduce the risk of rabies infection up to 40 to 90 per cent and advised not to stitch the wound, adding “it could introduce the virus deeper into the wound.”
After performing the proper wound washing, Dr Chua said patients will be assessed for post exposure prophylaxis (PEP) which consists of active immunisation, rabies vaccine and passive immunisation as well as rabies immunoglobulin.
“The initiation of PEP should not await the results of laboratory diagnosis or be delayed by dog observation when rabies is suspected and patients presenting for rabies PEP even months after having been bitten should be treated as if the contact had recently occurred,” he said.
Dr Chua said the guidelines provided by the WHO about rabies modalities also looks at the category of the wound.
