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
I imagine the vast, vast majority of people seek immediate medical attention when they get bitten by any animal, especially one that appears to be rabid.
Very few people get bitten by wild mamals. And only about 10% of them have rabies. And of those that do get bitten a lot of can get treatment. From what I could find there are about 47000 attacks from wild life in the US per year. But a lot of these arent from mamals but from snakes, birds or insects. From the mamal attacks not nearly all are bites. And from the bites only 10% of the mamals have rabies. And for the rest there is still the possibilty of medical treatment.
We treat it very seriously. Animals that are suspected of being rabid are captured or killed.
The vast majority of the time, humans that get bitten by any wild animal, especially those acting weird, will seek out immediate medical treatment.
I think even many domestic animal bites are followed by medical care and a rabies test for the animal.
And bite victims often get rabies treatment automatically if the animal can’t be found and verified as rabies-free. Better to be safe than sorry.
because there IS a follow up treatment, there has been for almost 200 years.
turns out, you can get vacinated for rabies AFTER you have been bitten, and its still effective.
https://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/preview/mmwrhtml/00000572.htm
That and people just dont get bitten by wild animals that much.
Rabies is relatively rare. The CDC had a rabies project years ago where vaccine laden food was dropped all over the US.
You’d basically have to 1. Get bitten by a rabid animal (not as common as people think). 2. Avoid medical treatment and 3. Continue avoiding that treatment until symptoms show. We’re taught from before grade school to avoid wildlife. We’re taught that if any animal bites us, we have to get medical attention. Animals that bite humans and are caught are killed and checked for rabies. Various organizations have programs that air drop rabies vaccine laced food in places with high rabies counts. Your pets are required to get a rabies vaccine. In short, we make it very hard for a susceptible host and a carrier to come in contact with each other.
Dealt with a rabid skunk at work. 6am while the store is about to open and all the employees are coming in, there was a rabid skunk walking in circles outside the employee door. A few dozen people walked past it and in the door, it never stopped walking in circles. They are generally dangerous because they act differently and people can just walk up to them without the wild animal running away. But very few people will walk up to a skunk ever, and the PR for rabies is pretty effective. Same applies to most animals. People avoid wild animals in general, and past that most people have little to no exposure to wild animals unless they are rural. Where there are pretty effective awareness campaigns
Basically no one wants rabies and we shoot all the animals we find. Had to call the store manager to give them a heads up that the cops were going to be discharging firearms on store property.
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
There honestly aren’t all that many rabid animals. In 2021, 3663 rabid animals were reported in the US. Your chances of being bitten are nil. If you are bitten, and you go get treatment before the onset of symptoms, you will survive. Roughly 60,000 people are treated annually for suspected bites, which should tell you that there is an excess of caution regarding animal bites. 1-3 cases of human rabies occur yearly. 70% of those cases are transmitted by bats. People just don’t realize they’ve been bitten until it’s too late.
If you own an unvaccinated pet, fines get astronomical fast. My county sends you an extremely threatening postcard with fines for failing to vaccinate for rabies about a month before your pet’s vaccination expires. When the pet dies, your vet records the rabies tag number, or you have to jump a shit-ton of hoops to report it yourself, or you will get ticketed for failing to vaccinate the next year. If you move and the mail does not reach you, they will find you. They do not fuck around. “Awwww, you rescued a stray dog who saved Timmy from a well! Sadly, you did not get Lassie vaccinated in the 72 hours you have owned her, please enjoy your $500 fine that doubles daily until that dog is vaccinated.” The IRS isn’t nearly as aggressive as animal control.
Also if you have an interaction with a bat in a county where rabies has been detected, you get your whole own TEAM of doctor, veterinarians, and public health officials freaking out and running everyone exposed through a gamut of diagnostic and precautionary measures. Ask me how I know! (I even got to talk to the CDC on the phone! It was like I had ebola!)
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