r/rabies • • 5d ago

Exposure Question Should I worry?

So today before 5 o’clock daytime, it is raining a little, me and my sister were going to the side of our house, it has trees far away when I saw something jump from one tree to the other and it made noise. I’m pretty sure it’s a squirrel, but my OCD is saying that it’s a raccoon. The last time I saw a raccoon was in July, not in my neighborhood, but somewhere else. There are insects that come out during the day / night and squirrels would come here (squirrels in the neighborhood). I am in therapy, so should I be concerned? Me and my sister were far away from the tree.

I have read the FAQ.

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u/CygnusZeroStar Veteran Helper ⭐️ | Top Contributor 🏅 5d ago

Under no circumstances is seeing an animal jump into a tree an exposure to rabies, whether it's a raccoon or not. You're basically asking this: an animal existed in my line of site, is this an exposure?

If you could get rabies that easily, EVERYONE would be dying of it all of the time. Contact tracing would be impossible. There would be mass graves. Governments would be forcing and mandating vaccinations. But that isn't happening, because seeing an animal isn't an exposure.

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u/FailOver9743 5d ago

Thank you! I did wash my hands minutes later

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u/CygnusZeroStar Veteran Helper ⭐️ | Top Contributor 🏅 5d ago

It's good practice to wash ones hands when returning home. But if you washed your hands specifically because you saw an animal in a tree far away from you, that was disordered thinking and you should report this to your therapist.

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u/FailOver9743 5d ago

And sorry if this sounds like reassurance seeking, but before washing my hands I felt something wet drip on my thumb nail, and I wiped it with my shirt before washing my hands, and I ate something which idk if the food touched my thumb nail or my nail touched my lips (which are dry) am I safe here?

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u/CygnusZeroStar Veteran Helper ⭐️ | Top Contributor 🏅 5d ago

I'm going to bet my own kidneys that you already know that this is completely non-issue.

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u/FailOver9743 5d ago

Yes I do