Treatment for Rabies

Treatment is effective if administered within 10 days of contracting the disease.  Washing the wound for 5 minutes immediately after it is received and using some type of iodine or alcohol solution while washing will get rid of the much of the virus.  In the United States it is recommended someone exposed to rabies should get a dose of HRIG (human rabies immunoglobulin) and then four doses of rabies vaccine over the following two weeks.  The HRIG should be administered around the bite mark and any remainder should be injected deep into the muscle away from the bite site.  The first vaccine should be given as quickly as possible with the remainder on the third, seventh and fourteenth day after exposure.  Survival of a rabies infection without vaccination has occurred.  The individual was placed into a coma and given several different drugs to halt brain function where rabies is known to attack.