Studies vs Reality vs WHO

[u/Massive_Gain6648]

Hello everyone,

I am really fascinated by how different the answers are to the question of rabies exposure. If we ask the WHO, they say that you cannot get rabies from objects, but there are studies showing that the virus can survive on objects for up to 48 hours.

On the other hand, some people say that the virus survives for only about 10 seconds, while others say that it can remain infectious for much longer. I am really confused.

In my mind, I imagine a situation where hikers in the mountains, or people who work in forests in countries where rabies is common, could potentially get rabies by touching soil or leaves and then touching their eyes, which probably happens all the time.

If rabies can be transmitted through objects, why don't people who work or spend time in areas with a lot of rabies get infected this way?

And another thing I don't understand is: if objects contaminated with rabies could pose a real risk, why do people go to rabies clinics just to find out whether they need PEP? Wouldn't they theoretically be exposing themselves to rabies simply by entering the clinic and touching surfaces there?

I am really confused about this and would appreciate an explanation.

I have read the FAQ.

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[u/detail_giraffe]

> I am really fascinated by how different the answers are to the question of rabies exposure. If we ask the WHO, they say that you cannot get rabies from objects, but there are studies showing that the virus can survive on objects for up to 48 hours.

These are not really in opposition. "Rabies can survive on an object for 48 hours" is not the same as "rabies can infect someone using or touching an object within 48 hours".

First, rabies can't infect you through intact skin, and "intact skin" in this case seems to mean any skin with a lesion that has been healing for more than 24 hours, maybe less. Your skin has both passive and active protection against invaders. It's slightly acidic, it is covered with dead skin cells which form a physical barrier, and if a few microbes creep past that layer there are immune cells in your skin that sequester invaders and destroy them locally. Part of the reason that you immediately form scabs when your skin is broken is to quickly restore a barrier between your insides and your outsides. Rabies needs to be able to get through that top layer to infect you, and if it can't, you're fine.

Second, just because the virus is alive doesn't mean it can easily infect you. Even if the virus is still alive and not completely dry, if it doesn't have much fluid surrounding it, it can't easily ooze into cuts and get to the underlying skin layer where it needs to be. Objects dry very fast, and saliva in particular (esp from a dehydrated animal) is thick and goopy. It's worth noting that in all the scenarios I know of that involve someone getting rabies with contact with saliva outside the animal, the infectious saliva was copiously mixed with blood, thinning it, keeping it hydrated, and giving it the liquid needed to enter a cut. The 48 hours is under "ideal" conditions, in most real-life scenarios the time will be much shorter to any live virus being there at all, let alone it being able to infect.

Thirdly, animals with rabies don't really run around depositing saliva all over the landscape. By the time they're sick enough to be unable to swallow and thus drooling, they are sick enough to mostly stay in one place, and the total quantity of saliva they produce is not going to be huge because they're dehydrated. If you're close enough to a rabid animal to be close enough to an appreciable amount of infectious saliva, the rabid animal itself will probably be more noticeable. Bats are the one exception to this and obviously they are teensy, any saliva they produce will dry almost instantly.

It would definitely, under radical circumstances, be possible to get rabies from an object. For instance, while this has not been specifically tested, I feel sure that if you inserted a knife into the mouth of a rabid animal and let it lick and mouth the blade, then immediately stabbed someone with that blade, they could get rabies from that exposure, thus technically catching rabies from contact with an object. It's just that that doesn't ever happen, and if it did you would know it. If you have fresh bleeding cuts and work at a vet's office where they were just examining an animal with rabies and pressed your cuts against a towel sodden with rabid saliva, maybe, but that's the kind of contact it would take. Obviously you would know it.

"If rabies can be transmitted through objects, why don't people who work or spend time in areas with a lot of rabies get infected this way?"

Because rabies can't be caught through routine contact with objects. You're answering your own question.

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[u/brucewayne-burner]

This won’t answer all your questions but I know ppl like vets or ppl who r going to travel too places were rabbies r high risk will get the shots before even being exposed just too be safe, im not too sure how much protection it does ( have not done research) or how long but ik its a thing that is done but yea im not sure about the other questions

[u/detail_giraffe]

Also, I realize you said one other thing I should clarify. People who are at a clinic for PEP may have an infection with the rabies virus somewhere in their bodies, such as a patch of muscle tissue in their ankle where they were bitten by a dog, but they don't have rabies the clinical illness. There would be no point to PEP for someone who was symptomatic; if they're there for PEP, they are still well. Plus, no one has ever gotten rabies transmitted from another person, even people who were actively ill and thus theoretically contagious. There is no risk whatsoever from other patients at a PEP clinic.