any links between rabbies vac and pericardial effusion

Question

My 9 year old husky was as happy and [seemed] healthy as could be yesterday morning. She needed her rabbies vac so around 3 i went and got it done at my vet. After about 4 hours she became very lethargic and had labored breathing. I took her to the emergency vet and after some ultrasounds they said she had pericardial effusion. In the end I had the dr put her down :(

The dr said there was no link to the rabbies vac, but she was soo normal yesterday morning. I googled a bit but didnt find anything. Is anyone aware of any correlation here (between the rabbies vac and the pericardial effusion)?

Answer 1

I'm not a vet and this is pure speculation, but based on research.

Pericardial effusion can have a number of causes:

• Various infections such as tuberculosis or Coxsackievirus infection
• Various inflammations such as pericarditis (inflammation of the tissue surrounding the heart), lupus, rheumatoid arthritis and Dressler's syndrome
• Kidney failure

Common negative side effects of rabies vaccines include:

• fever (hinting at some kind of inflammation)
• muscle aches
• inflammation of joints (incidence not known)
• shortness of breath and tightness in chest (incidence not known), which might hint at cardiac insufficiency but don't have to be related in this case
• Guillain-Barre Syndrome (rare side effect)

(Sources: Mayo Clinic, NHS, WebMD)

In my honest oppinion, all but the Guillain-Barre Syndrome are not fast acting enough to have caused the pericardial effusion in your dog. It might have been a very rare side effect. But it could also have been an inflammation he had for some time that was pushed to become pericardial effusion by the vaccine.

You should inform the vet who administered the vaccination about this incident. If this was a new vaccine, he should report the incident to the manufacturer. Also ask him whether he examined your dog before the vaccination (but keep in mind that it's not a must). Pale oral mucosa would have indicated a blood circulation problem. This is important information to determine whether the pericardial effusion developed in very short time or not.

In the end, I'm afraid noone will give you a clear answer what caused the pericardial effusion.
I'm sorry for your loss and express my heartfelt condolence.