Rabies

A visitor at the compound where we live got bitten by the guard dog here. No one could speak for the dog's vaccinations. The visitor did some research (and spoke to the resident nurse here- that's me) and knew the chances of him contracting rabies were very small. But he also has a 9 month old daughter and didn't want to take any chances. I offered to drive him to the local clinic because of my obvious qualifications (a car, some Spanish, medical training). I learned the following:

1. All care is free.

2. The personnel at the clinic have not treated anyone for rabies for 2-3 years and are certain that no dogs in SJdS have rabies.

3. The personnel see a lot of North Americans who have been bitten and are convinced that they need the rabies shot.

They were not persuaded by my argument that since other animals in the area (I am pretty sure we were talking about skunks but I could have misunderstood. It's possible we were talking about stinky foxes) have rabies, a dog in SJdS COULD have rabies. The visitor, after much discussion, was given a tetanus shot (his last one was over 9 years old) and a prescription for Cipro and Ibuprofen (he did not fill them). He will be back in the U.S. before the 10 window on getting the shot and Kaiser can decide if he needs it.