That is the problem that too many humans do not understand.

They are under the impression that an animal hass to bite them to contract rabies, they do not realize the pathogen is in the saliva.

Bats are notorious for carrying rabies, no different than hugging a "friendly" bear, sooner or later it will catch up with you.

Grizz

A friend who is a Spelunker has been bit by bats and done the rabies shots twice. He lived.
He worries more about hantavirus and plague.
Welcome to the Southwest USA.

I've tried to explain to kids about the Saliva being the problem with rabies . I don't know my success but they are surprised at my comments as movies and TV are so easy for them to believe !

Workers at two different Sale Barns have had to get the shots after working a sale and coming in direct contact with a cow with rabies came through.

About 40 years ago I came home after dark + saw what I thought was my kitten at the food bowl.Wrong,another similarly marked cat who sank her teeth through the web of my thumb. I took her to the vet to be tested. He said we can either wait 2 weeks to see if she has rabies or we can cut off her head right now + mail it off to be tested. Of course I opted to wait the 2 weeks but I sweated bullets those 2 weeks.She was clean.Those rabies shots are no fun. Used to be multiple shots in the stomach for an extended period.Don't know how they do it now.

quote:

Workers at two different Sale Barns have had to get the shots after working a sale and coming in direct contact with a cow with rabies came through.

I have read of a couple of cases over the past few years of kids having to go thru the treatments asfter petting goats or sheep at a Petting Yard at a County Fair.

NC, I am probably wrong on this, biut it seems lioke it was one shot daily around the navel for 21 days.

I don't know either,all I remember was it being stomach shots many times.Something I do want any part of.The kitten BTW turned out to be a good one (hell, they all are if folks don't demonize them 1st)

From CDC website,
https://www.cdc.gov/vaccines/h...atements/rabies.html

Vaccination after an exposure

Anyone who has been bitten by an animal, or who otherwise may have been exposed to rabies, should clean the wound and see a doctor immediately. The doctor will determine if they need to be vaccinated.

A person who is exposed and has never been vaccinated against rabies should get 4 doses of rabies vaccine – one dose right away, and additional doses on the 3rd, 7th, and 14th days. They should also get another shot called Rabies Immune Globulin at the same time as the first dose.

A person who has been previously vaccinated should get 2 doses of rabies vaccine – one right away and another on the 3rd day. Rabies Immune Globulin is not needed.

From news article,
https://newsok.com/article/386...to-get-a-rabies-shot

Several years ago, treatment for rabies included 21 injections into a person's stomach. It was extremely painful and involved a long needle. However, since the early 1980s, there's a much different rabies vaccine to treat humans for rabies exposure. ... The vaccine is given in a muscle, usually in the upper arm

Thanks for posting that. I thought it was a 21 day regimine but could not remember.

A report in the British papers says a man got rabies from a cat in Morocco !

I can believe that.