Anyone bitten or scratched by an animal known or suspected to be rabid should be treated as soon as possible. The person may also require treatment if the animal's saliva may have contacted a rash, hangnail, or any other existing raw break in the skin. Treatment usually consists of five injections of rabies vaccine given over a period of a month. For most people, vaccine inoculations have no unpleasant side effects. There may be slight discomfort - soreness, itching or inflammation.
Some people react more severely to the vaccine, feeling weak or nauseous or developing headaches.
Many thousands of Ontarians have taken injection series over the past 25 years because of exposure to rabid animals and, in this period, there has not been a case of human rabies in the province.