All it takes is one bite from a rabid animal, with no follow up medical treatment, and death is virtually guaranteed. But there have been less than 100 deaths in the last century in the US. Why aren’t deaths more common, especially given the sheer volume of wilderness and wild animals in the US?
In: Planetary Science
It’s a lot of “slim chances”. First, someone needs to get attacked by a wild/loose mammal. That’s not particularly common. The animal must also have transmissible rabies; it’s not a fast disease, but the time in which an animal goes from contracting rabies to dead is months. Dead animals don’t bite, and noninfected animals don’t have the disease to transmit. Then the attack has to break skin, but not enough to need stitches. Cuz if you go in for stitches and say “oh a wild dog bit me”…you’re getting the rabies shot. And the person needs to be healthcare avoidant to not get the vaccine. That kind of idiocy is on the rise lately, but I’d still say most people would get the vaccine over chancing it with rabies.
All 4 of those happening…it happens, but not often
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