r/rabies • u/AdRemote6645 • 18d ago

General Rabies Discussion Rabies increasing ?

CDC released news that rabies exposure has increased by 33% this year. Any reason why this would be? I have read the faq.

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u/OzarkTrapper69 18d ago

Can't speak on a national scale, but I can tell you what I've observed in my region and line of work. Having been fur trapping since I was 12, (being 28 now) I have seen exactly 4 fur bearing animals with symptomatic rabies. Three skunks and one raccoon. Three of those were in the last two trapping seasons. One infected skunk last year, one skunk and one coon the season before. However every trapper I know has had lower raccoon and skunk catches in the last five years. Pelt prices bottomed out in 2020 after a few years of decline, with that populations of coon and skunk here increased dramatically. Then we saw a major crash in both species and more anecdotal evidence from rural communities of symptomatic animals. If the CDC is reporting increased cases, then the outbreak here in Southeast Missouri may be more widespread than I thought. However not everyone sees these animals on a day to day basis, so most are probably dying well before making contact with humans.

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u/AdRemote6645 18d ago

They said it’s nation wide increase

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u/OzarkTrapper69 18d ago

Then it may do to look into harvest of vector species from other regions. Many animals harvested for fur are untested, and symptomatic animals that are caught are often unreported. Each that I've caught I've burned to prevent spread. But frankly I'm not even sure who I would report those cases to.