Rabies Shots

From a story about an Oregon man who was bitten and scratched during an attack by coyotes.

As a result of the coyotes' attack, Scarberry spent a good portion of that evening in the emergency room being treated for scratches and one bite. In addition, he had to endure 26 painful rabies injections, two shots in his hip and 24 injections in his leg.

I thought that a) the number of shots would be around five spread over several days b) the shots are relatively painless these days. Am I wrong about this?

Comments

[Julie]

Unless there's been a very recent change in the postexposure protocol, rabies treatment consists of 1 dose of immuglobulin and 4 doses of rabies vaccine given over a 14 day period. The injections are in the deltoid muscle, not gluteal or any other site. I really wonder about the protocol mentioned in the article.

[Julie]

Correction: immunoglobulin. Fast fingers, slow brain...

[Dr X]

Thanks, Julie