Q: If a member of the public should be battened by an animal abroad in Rabies infected area, but has not received the vaccine upon returning to the country or is in need of being inoculated with the “Human Rabies Immunization”, which hospitals offer the injection?
A: Members of the public may choose to call on directly the roaming outpatient service of hospitals outsourced by International Preventive Vaccination, Centers for Disease Control, Executive Yuan for the veterinarian to administer the vaccine, or obtain a veterinarian’s diagnosis confirmation and also present the diagnosis certificate, prescription and cold-storage equipment for collecting the vaccine by contacting the bureau or an offshore island municipal health department, ad also to complete the vaccination under a veterinarian’s instructions and supervision. For information on the current Rabies Immune Globulin and Human Rabies Vaccine storage sites, address and telephone, please log on to the Centers for Disease Control Website for details:
https://www.cdc.gov.tw/En
◎ As Taiwan is currently not a Rabies epidemic area, members of the public, if bitten by a dog or cat locally, are advised to not get overly panicky, and simply call on a hospital to receive treatment. As a general principle, it does not require administering the human immune protein or the vaccine, with the biting dog or cat to be retained for observation for ten days, and if the animal does not get sick, the human will not be infected with Rabies virus.  

Q: How do I prevent from pet from contracting Rabies?
A: Rabies infects all warm-blooded animals, so please remember to bring your baby to receive vaccination at the animal hospital on a yearly basis.  

Q: Which animals are susceptible to contract Rabies?
A:
I. With all mammals susceptible to contracting Rabies, the susceptibility and spreading risk of Rabies to different animals can be divided into:
(I) High-risk animals: Such as dogs, raccoons, skunks, and bats.
(II) Mid-risk animals: Such as cats, minks, and monkeys.
(III) Low-risk animals: Such as porcupines, opossums, and rabbits.
II. Based on announcement by Bureau of Animal and Plant Health Inspection and Quarantine, Council of Agricultural, Executive Yuan, currently countries enlisted as non-Rabies infectious areas include England, Sweden, Iceland, Australia, New Zealand, Japan and Taiwan.
III. As revealed by study reports, with humans infecting Rabies largely stemmed form clawing or biting by dogs or cats infected with Rabies or bitten by bats, members of the public are urged to avoid coming into contact with animals directly when traveling, visiting family or studying in the epidemic countries to avoid contacting Rabies.
IV. According to surveys, currently Taiwan’s bats are largely fruit bats, which differ from the blood-sucking bats that spread Rabies in Central and Southern Americas. If any citizen finds bats at home, please do not get panic, and if there are still questions, please inquire by logging on to the Bat Association of Taiwan Website.  

Q: How is Rabies spread?
A: Of animals infected with Rabies, the virus contained in their saliva enters the human body when an individual is being scratched or bitten.  

Q: What are some of the symptoms of Rabies?
A:
Early symptoms:
Non-specific anomaly symptoms: Such as anxiety, headache, fever, abnormal sensation at the bitten, injured area.
Acute symptoms:
Hyperactive, dementia, spasm, muscle numbness, difficulty swallowing, drooling, aquaphobia (as the patient is fearful of drinking water due to esophagus muscular spasm at the sight of water), which can all occur.
Terminal symptoms:
If no medical care measure is sought, the patient can fall into a coma and die of respiratory spasm.