What to do when someone has been bitten by a dog that may have Rabies?

If a student in your school or anyone else in your community has been bitten, scratched, or licked by a dog that could have rabies, you must take immediate action.

• First, wash the wound with plenty of soap and running water for at least 15 minutes.
• Then, speak to a health worker or ensure the person is taken to the nearest healthcare facility. Inform them what happened. The person should be assessed by a health worker who will decide if further treatment with post-exposure prophylactic (PEP) vaccination against rabies is required.
  • This vaccination is not always available everywhere in the country. The exposed person must either travel to a health facility where the rabies PEP vaccine is stored, or the vaccine itself must be transported to the health facility where the person is being cared for.

Since it is important for everyone in our community to know what to do, we should teach our students and inform their parents about the actions to take if someone is bitten, scratched, or licked by a dog that could have rabies.

I will share with you some resources to support you in teaching students about rabies. However, you can be creative and design your own way of introducing this important topic in class and in your conversation with parents and caregivers.

Click NEXT to learn how to stop rabies-infected dogs from biting people.