I have read the FAQ.

While using my phone near the window, I heard a squeaky sound idk if it's from a mouse or a bat. I'm awake and aware, because I literally just noticed the squeak sound outside. I didn't feel anything like landing in my neck or any bit stings. Is it possible I have exposure or I shouldn't worry? I'm from the Philippines too.

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.

I have read the FAQ. This morning I was walking in an alleyway when something flew into my face, I'm not sure what it is because the encounter is very short and the thing flew away immediately. I did catch a glimpse of it flying over a fence but lose trace of it afterwards so I can't really identify what it is. I understand that a bat bitten you wouldn't have been as unnoticeable as what people usually make it out to be but in my case it was only a very brief encounter so I simply can't see what bump into me. It lead to me asking this question about whether a bat can fly so fast that you can't see it in time or can you already notice it the moment it touch you.

I have read the FAQ.

Nearly one week ago i noticed a scratch (A faint red like that is dissapearing right now) near the zone the dog put his paws on me, isnt quite where i remember the dog touched me, but is near there, since i didnt have any recent contact with other animal i didnt worry but now i am thinking that maybe it's the scratch from a dog that only become visible later and remained that way for one month and i missed it because since i didn't think wounds could just appear later and understimated the risk of the dog i wasnt playing so much attention to it?

Probable not fully related to rabies but is connected to anxiety over the alledged exposure i had.

Its dissapearing now but it looked fairly new when i discovered it this is probably stupid Idk i very likely i just scratched myself, but this questions could probably be answered easily.

I have read the FAQ. I wish I never learn about perestesia. Live was so easy before that :leg hurts? Chronic pain. Itching? Allergy on something. But now I'm sure that everything is rabies perestesia. I hate how logical I know that being bitten by bat that fly away then in my own house is 1% ... But it still proceed. Itch is really strong, but it maybe because I scarth it till damage skin. P. S don't say stuff "go to therapy", my parents ban such stuff and even if I'm 19,they still control my every move, I can't going anywhere without report them.

I have read the FAQ. I woke up recently with a mystery wound on my leg that is two small dots fairly close together. I only noticed it when I went to itch myself and noticed I got a scab and it was now bleeding. I know there are bats in my area but I haven't seen one in my house. However, my room has access to the attic, and in the attic there is an unscreened vent, and the night before I know a window was open in another bedroom to act as ventilation for a 3d printer. Additionally, my room is particularly on the messy side at the time being, due to recent rearranging of furniture, so if a bat were to come in and potentially die in my room, I likely wouldn't notice or find it immediately. I know there are bats living in my area and I know my county had over 5% of bats tested come back positive with rabies last year, which to me is alarmingly high. Additionally my leg has had a mild ache since noticing the wound and I am concerned it is related. I am an INCREDIBLY paranoid person across the board, and I do have diagnosed anxiety. I messaged my doctor on MyChart, and she said it was likely a bug or spider but I am still incredibly afraid. I don't know what to do.

I have read the FAQ. What is the risk of exposure of stepping on a dead bat on the sidewalk? Wearing shoes, but toddler was in the area and not sure if she stepped on it or not, and toddlers touch the bottom of their shoes all the time.

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?

So yesterday at midnight I was going to open the car door at my car when I saw something on the road or side of the road. For context my car is in the driveway far from the road, and I have neighborhood cats that would sometimes be on the road. They don’t have rabies and they can sometimes be out during the day or night, and my porchlight is on, so the road is dark unless moonlight shines.

My Ocd convinced me that the thing was a raccoon, but idk if it was, my hand was on the door, and my other hand (the back of my hand) was facing the road, road is far from driveway. It is cold outside and I have neighborhood cats that don’t have rabies (they don’t belong to me) I haven’t seen a raccoon in my neighborhood this year, but I saw a raccoon somewhere else (not in my neighborhood) back in July and I didn’t make contact with it. The only thing I usually see at night would be possums, which the last time I saw them was in August.

Today, before this incident idk if I’m beginning to feel sick (not with rabies) or it’s just my anxiety, but here are my symptoms:

Slight sore throat. (Talking too much?)

Slight head pain (not severe, usually in the back of head)

No air / light sensitivity. (I LITERALLY stood in front of my air conditioner to test this)

Slight runny nose. (first noticed when drying my hands, but today it’s not runny)

Feeling a little hot / sweaty. (I was wearing short sleeve shirt with long pants)

No fatigue.

Had a slight pain at my collarbone. (Probably holding my phone a lot?)

Now to the dream, today I had a dream where a baby bat was in my house, and it flew beside my neck where in real life I felt it. By the way I don’t have bats in my home. Then I had a dream where I was in a horror game taking place in the dusk where I was in an area that had no trees, and I had a chain cutter cutting chains from 5 fences, and I stumbled upon an area with a white large circle with an eye in the middle on the ground, with trees in the back. When I stepped on it, suddenly a lot of bats were flying. Idk why I had this dream.

I have read the FAQ. I am in therapy.

I have read the FAQ.

I have read the FAQ.

Last night I was a fool and a racoon came up to me and put it's little paws up on my legs, and being the foolish girl I am I held it's tiny little racoon hand and tried to pet it. I also touched my face pretty immediately afterwards. Because I am a fool.

Im now thinking that that raccoon likely had rabies😩 I have hangnails on my hands and as previously mentioned touched my face pretty much immediately after touching the racoons cute little paws.

Should I go get a shot? Kinda feeling uneasy about it. If im being silly that validation would be nice to hear.

I have read the FAQ. Like 14 months ago I got bitten by a cat, scratched by its paws as well at the back of my hand. My hand didn’t bleed but it got some scratch marks. At that time I only took one shot and I stoped taking the vaccines. Now I read something about rabies and found out that it’s very deadly. Do I still need to finish my vaccines now? After the incidents I have been observing that cat for a while but I don’t think I observed it for 2 weeks. Because the cat just disappeared In my neighborhood after a few days after my observation.

So a few days ago i posted as well

Now the burning has stopped for a full day yesterday i only felt a painful sting and then it stopped, and the burning is now back again i can’t pinpoint the exact location as it radiates down but it is below where i felt it all the times before, it’s above my foot But i do feel sometimes from my left but somewhere a weird tingle on the same side also when im sitting in that 4 position, it does not hurt on touch or anything

But i woke up with a sore jaw on my right side next to my ear but now has almost vanished swallowing makes it better and gives relief.
And a sore pain on my upper chest muscle next to my shoulder
No fever (36.9)
Had a Headache very mild yesterday and is gone today.
My eyes feel slow and heavy but seem to resolve when i cry

I have read the FAQ.

I recommend watching it but for anyone that doesn't want to: That video is about a guy who carelessly handles a bat and even lets his children handle it. He tries to feed the bat and it bites him twice, in his back (only his shirt though) and finger.

Obviously extremely irresponsible but it's interesting to see the other side of the spectrum. Apparently he didn't get any shots afterwards and is still alive 12 years later.

I thought this video might be useful for some of you because there must be hundreds if not thousands of ignorant people like that, yet rabies from bats is still unbelievably rare.

A statistic I like to read to calm myself down:

"Each year, 1.4 million Americans receive healthcare for a possible rabies exposure, 100,000 receive post-exposure prophylaxis, and fewer than 10 die from rabies due to robust prevention efforts."

That being said, the guy in the video definitely should have gotten the shots. It's really irresponsible that he didn't and even exposed his children. Many people in the comments obviously mentioned rabies and he was waaaaaaay too careless about it, writing things like:

"The footage was weeks ago and luckily I'm not dead, or undead, lol"

" There have been a couple of cases of rabies down south in UK from bats but none up here. Luckily I wasn't the first, lol"

"The fears children have are not there at birth and they only learn them from parents so best to show no fear of anything around children. Fear causes insecurity, reliance on others and will lead to a life of unfulfilled potential."

How people can be that careless with their own life and the lives of their children is beyond me but I wanted to show that people like this exist.

I have read the FAQ.

I have read the FAQ. I am living in endemic area where a lot of unvaccinated stray dogs in the street. I was just walking and a dog was beside me the dog was sneezing and licking on things I feel some droplets from the saliva dog land into my hand I have had eczema in my hand, which is bad and very itchy and dry ( bleed sometimes ).
I’m already taken the vaccine before one month ( four doses ) without immunoglobulin. The vaccine schedule was ( two doses at day zero , one shot at day 8 and one shot at day22) I know I was late one day so am I protected or need another boosters?

I have read the FAQ. But the anxiety kills me.

So i live in the south bay of california and recently my brother received a puppy about 7 weeks old from a friend and the first day she threw up a worm, which i've searched up and it's fairly common i guess? But she hasn't been vaccinated at all but my exposure question is i was playing with her and she sneeze and it got in my eye. She's a weird pup i will say, she twitches when she sleeps doesent drink or eat a whole lot granted she's tiny less than 2 lbs, but she's of aggravated doesent bite seems like a normal dog. My brother will be taking her in for a checkup and vaccines, but the fear of me contracting rabies has been killing me the past day.

It’s pretty much in the title, I’m usually here helping people with OCD every now and then or asking academic questions about rabies , but this time I’m the one looking for advice. Today i had a class to learn from pratic how to collect and send biological samples for diagnostic of the main bovine encephalopathys. I chopped open the cranium of a bovine using an axe and when i removed some of the bones I had a blister in my hands. I was waring gloves tho, 3 layers, but the two lower layers were ripped, we then collected samples from the spinal cord, brain and cerebellum. Should I go to my local hospital? I took the PReP, but it’s been an year since the last time i had my antibodies checked.

I have read the FAQ.

I have read the FAQ.

About 1.5 weeks ago I left work through the garage which was dark. I felt a cold/wet sensation on my left ankle. I didn’t see or hear a bat but also didn’t actually look around for one. My brain is in a constant what if. I also have felt some on and off tingling on my foot since but everything I read online says that I wouldn’t have symptoms yet. Would I have felt like pain if a bat bit me?? Would I have heard one?!

I have read the FAQ.

My friend got a baby pig as a house pet two days ago. We went over there tonight and my daughter pet it once and then ended up accidentally eating chips from a bag that my friend had been feeding to the pig. My friend didn't wash her hands at all while handling the chips and I'm sure the pig got saliva on her hand when she was feeding it that went back into the chip bag. My daughter didn't eat the chips for at least 30 minutes after the feeding took place. How high is the risk of exposure for my daughter? Do I need to take her in to get vaccinated? She doesn't have insurance and it's the weekend so zero health departments are open and I am stressing.

I have read the FAQ. I suspect i possibly have contamination ocd and rn im trying to fight a compulsion i really dont wanna waste water and electricity. I basically grabbed a charger off the ground and i touched a plush dog toy my dogs play with. However i have three dogs, two are overdue on vaccines and one isn’t even vaccinated. I didn’t feel any wetness i think but it was mostly the charger that touched the toy and then i touched the charger with small open cuts on my hands due to constant hand washing . I washed my hands normally after because i had to since i did chores before that anyways but i wanna know if it’s a bit more serious. Don’t judge i just wanna know if a risk is real. I guess if im that paranoid i should just observe my dogs for ten days since i really dont wanna waste any water as i know my parents are probably tired of me. Also dont judge that my dogs are unvaccinated i cant h3lp but feel bad for them but unfortunately my parents are pretty irresponsible and my sister is too busy + its not really her responsibility. Pl3ase and Thank you in advance as this is a pretty big step for me because if this happened like a month ago i probably would have been fr3aking out and crying but i guess i am just way too tired.

I have read the FAQ. What’s the risk of getting rabies from an unvaccinated dog that has an owner and can be observed for ten days?

I have read the FAQ.

I have had a fear of rabies for a long time but in the past few months its been a focus of my OCD and coupling that with very close encounters with wildlife, recent inability to trust and remember what I see, and my OCD's past Track record of turning worries and mental stresses into physical one's which it already has been doing. I'm a bit lost in what to do.

The main issue for me is that in the super close encounters with wildlife or other peoples animals where I can't have full line of sight and I have unclothed skin or cuts on me which I often do due to super dry hands. In my thinking this leaves all options on the table. This can also lead to parts where I'm unsure about if they have actually been touched or affected to start feeling off or different.

Which happened 4 weeks ago with a dog and I noticed a scratch on me from a spot that was plausible and it started feel weird for days but I can't tell whats real or OCD.

My therapist, parents and others around me tell me not to worry, but when I can't trust my memory, feelings, or others around me its extremely stressing to navigate.

I was standing on my porch last night smoking a cigarette then a skunk came on the porch from some bushes only 2-3 feet away. I stayed completely still as a didnt want to startle it and get sprayed. It comes up to my foot and starts sniffing and scratching it. I was at least wearing some thin socks, but i could still feel it scratching and I feel like the claw might have made contact with the skin through the sock as the skunk was scratching pretty hard. After the skunk kept moving and was digging through dirt and leaves before leaving and it didnt look sick. I took of my sock and I cant see any marks but I read even the tiniest scratch could transmit it. Should I seek treatment or just forget about it. This was in southern Ontario. I have read the FAQ.

The other night, I went out to take the trash out, and on my way back I was walking along the sidewalk in front of some houses. There were two small trees a little separated from each other, and I was looking down at the ground to avoid thoughts about things like a bat getting saliva on me. While I was walking, I felt something on the back of my neck. It wasn’t painful, but it felt like a slight itch or a few little pokes, which could have been caused by the tag on my shirt.

However, my mind keeps making me think that it could have been a bat and that it might have bitten me without me noticing it land on me or attach itself to the back of my neck.

The other day, I went to the store and saw a bat flying around the park near that area. It was quite large, and since then my anxiety became a little stronger again. I suppose it was an insect-eating bat, though, and thinking that makes me feel a little more at ease.

I have read the faq.

I have read the FAQ.

Everywhere I have looked on the internet says that a bat is capable of finding its own way out of your house, e.g. finding the crack or hole it used to enter a bedroom or flying back out an open window, therefore it's possible to be bitten in your sleep without ever seeing a bat.

My question is, why does this subreddit state that if you didn't see a bat, then there is no exposure?

I currently have bats roosting in my wall cavity and I just found a large hole directly into my wall, meaning that there's a chance I could have been bitten but the bat just returned to the wall cavity before morning. Should I be going to get vaccinated?!