Quick action after a dog bite: Vietnamese student’s story for World Rabies Day

A dog bite and rabies treatment has not dampened Nguyen Truong Hung’s love of animals – but he admits to being more cautious around dogs now. Photo: supplied.

When 19‑year‑old university student Nguyen Truong Hung arrived at a Ha Noi motorcycle driving practice area, he was expecting nothing more than a standard licensing test.

Instead, he found himself surrounded by three aggressive dogs, one of them a new mother. Within seconds, a bite to the calf changed the course of his day.

“I tried to stay calm and just keep walking,” he recalls. “I didn’t tease them or go near them. But a dog that had recently given birth suddenly bit me.”

The wound was small, “about the size of one finger joint,” but the teeth marks were clear and bruising spread quickly.

More importantly, Hung knew what that bite could mean. Rabies remains one of the world’s deadliest diseases that passes from animals to humans, with a fatality rate close to 100% once symptoms appear.

“I was worried because I didn’t know if the dog had been vaccinated,” he says. “I called my family right away.”

Fortunately, his mother, Dr Nga Pham Thi Quynh, a Technical Officer in the World Health Organization (WHO) Country Office for Viet Nam, knew exactly what to do.

She instructed Hung to wash the wound under running water for 15 minutes. And then she took him to start a course of four injections with post-exposure prophylaxis. This is a critical step that prevents rabies when given promptly after an animal has licked a person’s broken skin, or bitten or scratched them.

“I was shocked that my son could be exposed to rabies right here in the capital. But we didn’t want to take any chances, so we acted quickly.”

Dr Nga remembers her brother being bitten by a dog as a child, when many more injections were needed. Mother and son agreed to share their story to raise awareness and encourage others to take swift action after an incident with an animal.

Hung took the treatment in his stride. “The injections were very gentle. I didn’t really feel anything.”

Nguyen Truong Hung is a second-year student at the National Economics University who loves sports. Photo: supplied.

Hung’s experience reflects a core message of World Rabies Day 2026. Its theme, Stronger Together, emphasizes that rabies elimination is only possible when communities, health workers, veterinary services, policymakers and individuals all play their part.

Hung’s story shows how individual awareness and rapid care fit into this larger system, alongside dog owners who vaccinate pets and prevent roaming, veterinary professionals who vaccinate animals, health-care workers who provide timely treatment, and government leadership and coordinated action.

Viet Nam has long recognised the urgency of rabies control. The National Programme for the Prevention and Control of Rabies 2022–2030 sets a clear and ambitious goal: zero human rabies deaths from dogs by 2030. If fully implemented, it would eliminate human deaths from rabies in Viet Nam.

Yet rabies continues to claim dozens of lives a year in Viet Nam, often in remote and disadvantaged communities.

WHO Representative in Viet Nam Dr Angela Pratt said, “Behind each death is a family grieving the preventable loss, often of children, who suffer disproportionately from dog bites.”

“Rabies is preventable and elimination is achievable. Rabies is one of the few diseases for which we already have all the tools needed to end human deaths. It is 100% vaccine-preventable.”

As well as encouraging the vaccination of all dogs, WHO urges stronger intersectoral collaboration, across human health, animal health and environmental sectors, to eliminate rabies through a One Health approach.

Despite the incident, Hung’s affection for pets hasn’t changed. “I really love animals,” he says. “I don’t have negative feelings toward dogs or cats. But I will definitely be more cautious, especially around stray dogs or dogs in parking areas.”

His experience highlights a common reality: many bites occur in everyday public spaces, often involving unvaccinated or free-roaming dogs, despite recent laws in Viet Nam that require dogs to be on leads and wear muzzles in public.

“If I could send one message,” Hung says, “it's that dog owners must take responsibility for their pets, especially in public places. Dogs shouldn't be allowed to roam freely and owners should always keep an eye on them.”

He also urges people to stay alert around stray or unrestrained dogs – and act immediately after a bite or scratch.