Who is susceptible to rabies

Whether you are a pet owner, a parent, an outdoor adventurer, or a global explorer, there are steps you can take to keep yourself and your family safe from rabies throughout the year. A veterinarian can make sure your pets — like dogs, cats, and ferrets — are up-to-date on their rabies shots and protected from getting rabies.

All dogs and cats should be vaccinated around four months of age, and then again one year later. After these two shots, your veterinarian will develop a vaccination plan that is best for your pet and complies with local laws.

This is important, since animals that have not received a rabies shot and are in contact with potentially rabid wild animals may need to be quarantined or put to sleep. There are things you can do around the home to help reduce the risk of rabies to you and your pets. In the United States, rabies is most often seen in wild animals such as raccoons, bats, skunks and foxes.

One of the best ways to protect yourself and your family is to leave all wildlife alone, including injured animals. Do not feed or handle them, even if they seem friendly. If you see an injured animal, an animal that seems sick or is acting strangely, or a dead animal, report it to animal control, wildlife services, or your local health department.

You should also avoid dogs and cats that are unfamiliar to you and your family. These animals may be in contact with wildlife and can also spread rabies to people. In the United States, distinct strains of rabies virus have been identified in bats, raccoons, skunks, foxes, and mongooses.

In many other parts of the world, rabies in dogs is still common. Skip directly to site content Skip directly to page options Skip directly to A-Z link. Section Navigation. Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Syndicate. How is rabies transmitted? Minus Related Pages. All species of livestock are susceptible to rabies. As with domestic pets, livestock that have been vaccinated for rabies with a vaccine approved by USDA for that species should be revaccinated immediately and observed for 45 days.

If the animal has not been vaccinated, it should be euthanized. The animal can be used for human consumption if it is slaughtered within 7 days of exposure, provided liberal amounts of the tissue around the exposed area bite are discarded.

Consult with your veterinarian. The skunk serves as the primary reservoir for rabies in North Dakota. Any bite from a skunk should be considered an exposure to rabies until a laboratory test indicates otherwise.

Any mammal, including bats can get rabies. Bites from bats may not be easily noticed. Bats have small teeth and bites may cause very little discomfort. You should contact your physician or a public health department if you come into contact with a bat or find a bat in your home. Pre-exposure rabies vaccines are recommended only for people at increased risk of coming into contact with rabies.

Such people include rabies laboratory workers, veterinarians, animal control officers, and cave explorers. Some people may get pre-exposure shots when they travel to developing countries. Consult your health care provider or public health department for more information. This consists of three doses of vaccine administered on days 0, 7 and 21 or You should be tested for protective antibody every 2 years and booster vaccination is recommended for unacceptable antibody levels.

If you are working in a rabies research laboratory or are a rabies biologic production worker then you should have your antibody level checked every 6 months. If you have been vaccinated previously with one of the currently licensed vaccines, you will still need two booster doses of rabies vaccine.

The first dose should be given as soon as possible and the second dose three days later. Rabies immunoglobulin should NOT be given.

As with most vaccines the most common side effect is soreness and redness at the site of the injection. More severe reactions are rare and often related to allergies to the ingredients in the vaccine. Contact your health care provider if you are having any health effects which you think might be related to the vaccine. No, the rabies vaccine has not been given in the stomach since the s. For adults, it should only be given in the deltoid muscle of the upper arm administration to the gluteal area is NOT recommended, as studies have shown this can result in a less effective immune response.

For children, the anterolateral aspect of the thigh is also an acceptable site depending on the child's age and body mass. Rabies immunoglobulin is recommended to be given at the site of the bite, if possible. Ideally, the vaccination series should begin as soon as possible after an exposure has occurred and a health care provider has determined rabies vaccination is warranted.

Usually you can wait for test results from a healthy domestic animal to see if rabies shots are needed. Bites and exposures from wild animals should be treated as if the animal were rabid until rabies has been ruled out. There have been instances when a person did not start rabies shots for months after an exposure because the exposure was never suspected. Rabies vaccine and immunoglobulin is very expensive.

If your jurisdiction has rabies vaccination ordinances and leash laws, enforcing these ordinances will help reduce the risk of rabies in your communities. Enforcing the proper confinement of animals that have bitten a person helps ensure that the animal will not escape during the observation period, so a veterinarian can declare the animal in question healthy.

It also minimizes the risk for other people or animals to be exposed to the confined animal and helps prevent people from getting unneeded rabies shots. Humanely destroy the animal, avoiding damage to the skull and brain. Rabies is a deadly disease caused by a virus that attacks the nervous system.

The virus is secreted in saliva and is usually transmitted to people and animals by a bite from an infected animal. Less commonly, rabies can be transmitted when saliva from a rabid animal comes in contact with an open cut on the skin or the eyes, nose, or mouth of a person or animal. Once the outward signs of the disease appear, rabies is nearly always fatal. Only mammals can get rabies; birds, fish, reptiles and amphibians do not.

In the United States, most cases of rabies occur in wild animals—mainly skunks, raccoons, bats, coyotes, and foxes. In recent years, cats have become the most common domestic animal infected with rabies. This is because many cat owners do not vaccinate their cats and cats can be exposed to rabid wildlife, either outdoors or when bats get into the house.

Rabies also occurs in dogs and cattle in significant numbers and, while not as common, has been diagnosed in horses, goats, sheep, swine and ferrets. Vaccination programs and control of stray animals have been effective in preventing rabies in most pets. Approved rabies vaccines are available for cats, dogs, ferrets, horses, cattle and sheep.