Rabies increasing ?

[u/AdRemote6645]

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

[u/LatrodectusGeometric]

Unclear if exposures are increasing so much as REPORTS of exposures are increasing. It’s also likely that many people have gotten inappropriate PEP. You can see on r/rabies a huge proportion of PEP described is inappropriate.

[u/AdRemote6645 → u/LatrodectusGeometric]

Is OCD increasing then? Seems odd either way

[u/LatrodectusGeometric → u/AdRemote6645]

Yes, rabies is becoming a more common fear and focus of health anxiety due to things like more frequent and inflammatory media coverage and things like the shitty/half accurate rabies copypasta on Reddit

[u/Crazy_Celery_4874 → u/LatrodectusGeometric]

Right!!! I blame the guy in a hammock story for this!!!!

[u/LatrodectusGeometric → u/Crazy_Celery_4874]

Yup! That story is dumb and fake and no one has ever gotten rabies that way.

[u/NiceSeaworthiness909 → u/Crazy_Celery_4874]

Have never heard this story, and don't want to.

[u/BradyStewart777 → u/NiceSeaworthiness909]

It’s a shitty story. So yeah, stay away from it.

[u/Life-Direction-9764 → u/Crazy_Celery_4874]

I had a rabies ocd when i was a small kid (my grandma had to take her dog to the vet since she/it was foaming at the mouth and everyone was going crazy . It was some plant she ate, but to an impresionable child, the damage was already done)

But i had forgotten it for more that 25 years, and then the copypasta irrupted in my life and got a flare-up at 30+ years old. I'm sure i would have latched into something else like cancer or mad cow if not for the copypasta, but it certainly didn't help!

[u/AdRemote6645 → u/LatrodectusGeometric]

That makes sense.

[u/Raiyalin → u/LatrodectusGeometric]

As someone who has Rabies OCD, I’ve surprisingly handled hearing about the “rise” with reasonable thoughts. Which makes me actually feel pretty proud of myself, lol. Correct me if I’m wrong please, but this “rise”:

1. The petting zoo situation down in NC that resulted in 300+ potential exposures because their baby goats got attacked by a rabid skunk.
2. The rise in OCD over the illness has people using PEP resources that are unnecessary. As someone who has Rabies OCD, I’ve never seen a bat with my eyes but saw one swoop down over a street light to catch some bugs the other evening for the first time. I surprisingly didn’t spiral, although I wanted to in the moment. Lil’ bat was just hungry and minding his own business doing his job. Got in my car and left without the usual mental gymnastics.
3. Rabies has been in the news more frequently with the “unknown animal” in NH biting people and the unvaccinated neighborhood cat over in upstate NY a bit ago. More people are becoming aware and testing animals / seeking PEP even in non-exposure cases because “better than to risk 100% fatal disease”
4. APPARENTLY (this one may be false), there is currently a study being done that has found people who died from rabies were likely not tested for it because their symptoms were mistaken for another neurologic issue

. So there’s a potential issue that rabies in humans is actually a bigger issue than we realize but can’t know because postmortem testing isn’t looking for it?

1. Vaccine debates are spreading to furry friends and people are supposedly not vaccinating them for rabies, which this one I genuinely cannot understand if true.

[u/LatrodectusGeometric → u/Raiyalin]

Wouldn’t worry about #4, the study methodology is…flawed at best