In Reply to: Beware of dog bites because rabies... posted by dadvet on Saturday, 29. November 2008 at 09:44 Bali Time:
copy from bali expat forum
The incubation of rabies by an animal, in this case a dog, could be a long as 6 months. During this period, it is not contagious, as it cannot infect another being until the virus has reached the dog's brain, where it multiplies and then travels to the dog's salivary glands. This is why rabies is transmitted through a bite.
However, once the virus has reached the animal's brain, the animal will die within 3 to 5 days. Since a bite victim of a rabid animal must start the series of anti-rabies shots within THREE days of the bite, the series of shots should be started as soon as possible within those 3 days. If not, forget it, you're history. One stops the series of shots (which takes place over a one month period, administered on days 0, 3, 7, 14, and 28), if the suspected animal survives its 10-day quarantine.
So, if the suspected rabid dogs were captured, the protocol called for a quarantine of the animals of 10 days. If after that time, the animals were behaving "normally," it means they were not infected with the rabies virus (one cannot miss the symptoms of an infected animal).
It looks as the Yudisthira Swarga Foundation, in Bali, had a knee-jerk reaction, and its directors need to go back to school. The fact that the suspected dogs were still alive 2 months after having bitten these 2 poor guys, back in September, indicates that the dogs couldn't possibly have been infected with rabies. Elementary, my dear Watson...