Rabies Vaccine Hesitancy and Deaths Among Pregnant and Breastfeeding Women - Vietnam, 2015-2016.

Rabies Vaccine Hesitancy and Deaths Among Pregnant and Breastfeeding Women - Vietnam, 2015-2016. MMWR Morb Mortal Wkly Rep. 2018 Mar 02;67(8):250-252 Authors: Nguyen HTT, Tran CH, Dang AD, Tran HGT, Vu TD, Pham TN, Nguyen HV, Nguyen ANK, Pieracci EG, Tran DN Abstract Human rabies deaths are preventable through prompt administration of postexposure prophylaxis (PEP) with rabies immune globulin and rabies vaccine after exposure to a rabid animal (1); there are no known contraindications to receiving PEP (1,2). Despite widespread availability of PEP in Vietnam, in 2015 the Ministry of Health (MoH) received reports of pregnant and breastfeeding women with clinically diagnosed rabies. MoH investigated factors associated with these rabies cases. MoH found that, during 2015-2016, among 169 cases reported in Vietnam, two probable cases of rabies were reported in breastfeeding mothers and four in pregnant women, all of whom had been bitten by dogs. All six patients died. Three of the four pregnant women had cesarean deliveries. One of the three newborns died from complications believed to be unrelated to rabies; the fourth pregnant woman contracted rabies too early in pregnancy for the fetus to be viable. Two of the patients sought care from a medical provider or traditional healer; however, none sought PEP after being bitten. In each case, families reported the patient's fear of risk to the fetus or breastfed child as the primary barrier to ...
Source: MMWR Morb Mortal Wkl... - Category: Epidemiology Authors: Tags: MMWR Morb Mortal Wkly Rep Source Type: research