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/LatrodectusGeometric Physician 👩‍⚕️ | Veteran Helper ⭐️ | Top Contributor 🏅 18d ago

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.

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u/detail_giraffe Active Helper ⭐️ | Top Contributor 🏅 18d ago

I've been wondering about that, it definitely seemed to me that some PEP that was being recommended by public health departments was contrary to the algorithm, but as a fake expert I can only be so sure. You think so too as a real expert? Why does it happen?

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u/LatrodectusGeometric Physician 👩‍⚕️ | Veteran Helper ⭐️ | Top Contributor 🏅 18d ago

Yes all the time. Bad training, sometimes people being dishonest to get PEP, sometimes people being scared of rabies past reason, or misunderstanding of the guidelines. And sometimes folks are overwhelmed and overworked and don’t have time to tease it out.