Step 05 / 05

Day 28 — fifth dose

Return to the clinic and receive the final intramuscular dose. After this, the rabies course is complete.

Details

Completing all five doses is what makes post-exposure prophylaxis effective. Stopping the course early leaves the person under-protected.

If you are immunocompromised — on chemotherapy, long-term steroids, post-transplant, or living with HIV — ask your clinician about a rabies virus neutralising antibody (RVNA) titre drawn 10–14 days from now. The test (Rapid Fluorescent Focus Inhibition Test, RFFIT, or Fluorescent Antibody Virus Neutralisation, FAVN) is run at specialised reference laboratories rather than at most clinics, so the blood sample is collected at the clinic and transported. A titre of ≥0.5 international units per millilitre is the WHO-defined threshold for an adequate antibody response; a lower value means additional doses are needed. Routine post-exposure titre testing is not recommended for immunocompetent patients — the five-dose course is considered reliable on its own.