Incubation period can be more than 1yr!

Any warm blooded animal is a potential risk, including bats, monkeys and rodents as well as cats, dogs and foxes. Animals behaving abnormally represent a higher risk of infection (but normal appearance and behaviour do not exclude rabies) – unprovoked bites obviously suggest abnormal behaviour, and carry greater risk than provoked bites.
Domestic dogs or cats behaving normally at 15 days after an exposure would not have been infectious at the time of the exposure.

The risk depends on:

• country of exposure – see below
• category of exposure – see below – higher risk with broken skin, including single or multiple transdermal bites, severe lacerations, or where mucous membranes or an existing skin lesion have been contaminated by the animal’s saliva or other body fluid (intact skin is a barrier against infection).
• site (on body) of exposure
• whether the patient is immunosuppressed or has any allergies
• any previous rabies vaccinations or immunoglobulin treatment

For more on bites, see PHS bat bites page and PHS other animal bites page.

Country and category of exposure

Determine “combined country or animal risk” – Rabies risks by country – GOV.UK

Determine category of exposure – grade 1-3, with 1 being no physical contact with saliva, 3 being direct contact. Slightly different rules for bats!

Combine the 2 according to the risk matrix –

Green get nothing, obviously, amber get rapid vaccine schedule (days 0, 3, 7, 21) – modified if fully immunised already or immunosuppressed. Red get rapid vaccine schedule plus Human Rabies Immunoglobulin.