6 Coyote-Looking Dogs

 What If a Human Gets Rabies

How serious is rabies? It can be deadly, and it’s more serious than you might think. Rabies in humans isn’t as common as rabies in other animals, but that doesn’t mean it’s not important to understand how it works or how you can protect yourself from getting it. This article will explain what happens if a human gets rabies and how to reduce your risk of contracting this dangerous disease.

How do you catch rabies?

Animals are typically infected through contact with saliva when an infected animal bites or scratches them. Humans can also get rabies from being bitten, licked, or scratched by an infected animal, or through exposure to its brain tissue and spinal cord fluids. Raccoons are particularly dangerous to humans because they often have prolonged contact with people in their trash-dumpster-diving scavenging. Large animals like bats can transmit rabies as well. In both cases, rabies is transmitted through broken skin in direct contact with an open wound; it’s not possible to catch rabies without being physically harmed by an animal and only mammals carry it.

How is it treated?

Luckily, rabies is curable if caught early. A large animal bite (like from a dog) usually means multiple shots and possibly quarantine for several days. The good news is that vaccines can be given in one shot. However, if you don’t know when your bite happened or it happened outside of your health care provider’s window of opportunity to give treatment, it could be fatal—and you will still need multiple shots. The bad news is that there are no treatments available once symptoms show up—only preventative measures before symptoms occur. So do yourself and others a favor and get vaccinated against rabies and make sure to keep track of injuries with potential rabies exposure.

Signs and symptoms of rabies in humans

The earliest signs of rabies in humans usually appear 1 to 3 months after exposure, although there have been cases reported where it took as long as 6 months for symptoms to appear. In these early stages, rabies is hard to distinguish from other viral diseases, such as encephalitis or meningitis. The initial symptom of rabies is typically tingling at the site of exposure, but that's soon followed by: difficulty swallowing; discomfort while eating, and tingling or pain in your arms or legs. You might also notice fever, fatigue and anxiety. As time passes—usually within 1 week—you may experience insomnia or confusion and begin acting erratically.

Large animals that carry rabies in the U.S.

Any mammal can get rabies and it's important to avoid all wild animals, not just raccoons, skunks, and bats. 80% of human cases in the U.S. are caused by these three types of wild animals that commonly carry rabies: raccoons, skunks, and bats. But other wild animals can carry rabies too—including foxes (and their kits), coyotes, wolves, dogs (both stray and domestic), cats (both stray and domestic), rodents like squirrels or rats (even kittens!), rabbits or hares, groundhogs or woodchucks--and even livestock such as horses or cows!

Large animals that carry rabies in Canada

Bats, foxes, raccoons and skunks. The following animals may also carry rabies in Canada: coyotes, wolves, and dogs (wild or domestic). Many other wild animals are immune to rabies but can carry other infectious diseases. In addition to exposure to wild animals, there have been cases of pet dogs contracting rabies from bites from wild rabid animals such as bats. Domestic animals (cats, cattle and goats) are not susceptible to rabies.