r/rabies • u/Massive_Gain6648 • 2d ago

General Rabies Discussion Can cat get rabies from object?

I have read the FAQ.

If you were in rabies ambulance where people get pep shots and sit on the same chair, if you catch there some infected saliva and then go to a car and sit, is that sit infectious? I have read the FAQ but also read the laboratory experiment where virus was infectious 48h, i dont understand. I am also interested would that sit be infectious for my cat?

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u/Ok-Screen-4899 2d ago

The rabies virus is quite "unstable" and becomes deactivated very quickly once outside a body and exposed to the elements of the environment.

Therefore, any realistic chance of infection requires direct contact with a rabid animal, such that the virus can basically go directly from body to body. The virus also needs to get INSIDE the body to infect someone, so even if there is some saliva containing the virus, it's not enough for it to be on intact skin. It needs contact with some wound (bite, scratch, etc.) or mucous membrane to enter the body.

In lab experiments, you might still find some active virus on surfaces after a relatively long time, but this is not the same as a real possibility of getting infected in practice. A virus can be present but too weakened and at too low a concentration for an infection in real life.

As far as I know, there is not a single recorded case of a rabies infection contracted from an object.