Rabies fear is back (in Georgia, the country)

[claire92]

Hi all,

I hadn't had rabies fear for a while but yesterday it came back with a vengance.

I'm in Georgia, the country in Caucuses, and there are lots of strays here but they're well looked after and dogs with ear tags have had at least one rabies vaccination.

I was running yesterday and a dog ran up to me and jumped up. He was friendly but big so when he jumped his paw made contact with my hand. I did notice a bit of redness on my thumb but carried on running. Then when I got back to the hotel did a bit of googling (big mistake!) And got down an anxious rabbit hole.

A few things
A) there is rabies here, but it's not common in the big cities
B) the dog had an ear tag which means he's had at least one vaccination. This was confirmed by my guide but sources online (including the official Visit Georgia website) say there's no guarantee they were vaxxed recently.
C) the dog 100% did not have any signs of rabies, he was very friendly and only jumped at me to say hello, it was also very wet and the dog was drinking from puddles etc.
D) I've had 5 shots of rabies vacc 5/6 years ago, and when I went to ask the travel vaccination clinic about it before I was told that nobody who had had 3+ rabies vaccinations had ever caught it
E) I don't even think I had an open wound! I had a bit of redness yesterday, a faint red line, and nothing really today. I washed my hands with a few soaps and used a hand wipe (not sure if it was antiseptic) yesterday but didn't get any stinging. Didn't bleed etc.

But I've managed to work myself up about a hugely hypothetical situation where the dog was pre-symptomatic, he got rabid saliva on his paws and then jumped at me and opened the skin just enough to give me the virus (I'm not 100% sure what the travel vaccinater said was true as I haven't found anything to back this up online, but obvs she should know what she's talking about).

Other things I've read online say to see a Dr just in case, but I know in these hypothetical situations that's just letting anxiety/ OCD win. It's definitely not the first time I've had anxiety like this and I can't keep running to the Dr when anything happens. Obviously if the dog had bitten me or definitely scratched me I'd see the Dr but it's these unsure scenarios I really struggle to deal with.

Can anyone help?

[claire92]

The dog was also running through puddles, so I'm guessing any saliva that was on his paws would have been washed off quite quickly. One other reason I'm reluctant to go to the Dr is because I know they'll recommend the vax just in case and I'm on a tour with lots of people, going to diff regions in Georgia and I really don't want to have to keep finding hospitals to get vaccines if I don't need to. My boyfriend has said if it were him he would not be worried about it at all.

[.Poppy.]

I would wager you are fine.

For one thing, you can’t get rabies from a paw, only saliva. You would know if the dog had bitten you, and there’s really no reason a running dog would have saliva on his feet. It would have dried or dripped off.

Also, the rabies vaccine generally lasts quite a while. It’s likely both you and the dog still have protection.

Finally, for dogs anyway, an infected dog doesn’t become contagious until the virus reaches the head (which is why it ends up in the saliva). At that point, there would be obvious neurological signs.

[nomorepanic]

With all the fears people have - we have not had one single case of rabies ever

[claire92]

I would wager you are fine.

For one thing, you can’t get rabies from a paw, only saliva. You would know if the dog had bitten you, and there’s really no reason a running dog would have saliva on his feet. It would have dried or dripped off.

Also, the rabies vaccine generally lasts quite a while. It’s likely both you and the dog still have protection.

Finally, for dogs anyway, an infected dog doesn’t become contagious until the virus reaches the head (which is why it ends up in the saliva). At that point, there would be obvious neurological signs.

Thank you! I'd been doing so well for a good few years with this and forgot just how scary it can be! I think it's cos of the finality of rabies, whereas I do need to think of what the travel vaccinater said to me about the rabies jab offering protection and realistically how I can get it. The dog was literally running through puddles (it was so wet) so I know realistically there isn't any way it had saliva on its paws (definitely didn't bite me). And I'm pretty sure there was no open wound! (Obviously OCD is giving me false memories now but it was just a bit of redness, also possibly caused by the cold air). Appreciate you taking the time out to make this comment thanks.

[claire92]

With all the fears people have - we have not had one single case of rabies ever

Thank you, I know I need to remember this