Rabies

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Medical Author:

Melissa Conrad Stöppler, MD, Chief Medical Editor

Melissa Conrad Stöppler, MD, Chief Medical Editor

Melissa Conrad Stöppler, MD, is a U.S. board-certified Anatomic Pathologist with subspecialty training in the fields of Experimental and Molecular Pathology. Dr. Stöppler's educational background includes a BA with Highest Distinction from the University of Virginia and an MD from the University of North Carolina. She completed residency training in Anatomic Pathology at Georgetown University followed by subspecialty fellowship training in molecular diagnostics and experimental pathology.

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Medical Editor:

Mary Nettleman, MD, MS, MACP

Mary Nettleman, MD, MS, MACP

Mary D. Nettleman, MD, MS, MACP is the Chair of the Department of Medicine at Michigan State University. She is a graduate of Vanderbilt Medical School, and completed her residency in Internal Medicine and a fellowship in Infectious Diseases at Indiana University.

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• Rabies Overview
• Rabies Causes
• Rabies Symptoms and Signs
• When to Seek Medical Care
• Rabies Diagnosis
• Rabies Treatment
• Self-Care at Home
• Medical Treatment
• Rabies Medications
• Follow-up
• Rabies Prevention
• Rabies Prognosis
• For More Information
• Web Links
• Synonyms and Keywords
• Authors and Editors
• Read more on Rabies from Healthwise

Rabies Overview

Rabies is a disease humans may get from being bitten by an animal infected with the rabies virus. Rabies has been recognized for over 4,000 years. Yet, despite great advances in diagnosing and preventing it, today rabies is almost always deadly in humans who contract it and do not receive treatment.

Rabies can be totally prevented with appropriate treatment. You must recognize the exposure and promptly get appropriate medical care before you develop the symptoms of rabies.

• Human rabies is quite rare in the United States. Yet in some areas of the world (for example, Southeast Asia, Africa, and Latin America), human rabies is much more common. About 55,000 people worldwide die from rabies each year, with the majority of deaths occurring in Africa and Asia. Worldwide, the majority of human rabies cases involve bites from rabid dogs, although this is extremely rare in the U.S., where wild animals such as raccoons and bats being the primary source of exposure.
• The incidence of rabies in people parallels the incidence in the animal kingdom. The great strides that have been made in controlling the disease in animals in the United States and in other developed countries is directly responsible for the decline in human rabies in developed countries. The number of human deaths from rabies in the U.S. averages two to three cases per year, and deaths almost always occur when the affected person has delayed or failed to receive treatment.
• Although rabies in humans is very rare in the United States, between 16,000 and 39,000 people receive preventive medical treatment each year after being exposed to a potentially rabid animal.
• Some regions of the country have more cases of rabies than others do.
• Wild animals, rather than domestic animals, accounted for 92% of reported cases of rabies in 2010.
• Animals that carry rabies: Raccoons are the most common wild animals infected with rabies in the United States. Skunks, foxes, bats, and coyotes are the other most frequently affected.
• Bats are the most common animals responsible for the transmission of human rabies in the United States, accounting for more than half of human cases since 1980 and 74% since 1990. Rabid bats have been reported in all states except Hawaii.
• Cats are the most common domestic animals with rabies in the United States. Dogs are the most common domestic rabid animals worldwide.
• Almost any wild or domestic animal can potentially get rabies, but it is very rare in small rodents (rats, squirrels, chipmunks) and lagomorphs (rabbits and hares). Large rodents (beavers, woodchucks/groundhogs) have been found to have rabies in some areas of the United States.
• Fish, reptiles, and birds are not known to carry the rabies virus.