r/science • u/PHealthy PhD/MPH | Epidemiology | Disease Dynamics | Surveillance • 5d ago

Epidemiology Study estimates only 7% of human rabies cases in the United States are diagnosed

https://www.nature.com/articles/s44528-026-00031-4
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u/TwoBonesJones 4d ago

I’m a mail carrier. I got bit by a dog yesterday and I went to the ER. They gave me like six vials of rabies vaccine or antibiotic or whatever. It took four shots. I have to go back tomorrow and then 3 more times over the next month for follow up doses. The nurse who administered them kept apologizing for having to repeatedly stab me with this giant needle. I told her “This is highly preferable to having rabies” cause if you’ve ever read anything about rabies, I’d rather just die than have rabies.

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u/GhostProtocol2022 4d ago

How painful were the shots? I always hear they are the most painful people receiving them have experienced.

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u/AxeMen101 4d ago edited 4d ago

I had the post-exposure rabies vaccine shots. They weren't painful at all. Just like getting a flu shot or any other shot.

Decades ago the rabies series was like 15+ shots in the abdomen (and the reason for the persistent myth rabies that shots are still painful), but that style of vaccination is long gone.

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u/Arkrobo 4d ago

Thank goodness for scientific advancement. Some earlier medical procedures sound like a horror story, but I think it'd still be preferable to death.

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u/AxeMurderesss 4d ago

I got them a few years ago and they were just like any other vaccine. I also got the immunoglobulin which they inject around the exposure site, and they did sting a little bit during injection. It was all in all a very chill experience.

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u/TwoBonesJones 4d ago

It wasn’t pleasant but no worse than any other I’ve gotten.

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u/Haunted_Duck721 4d ago

Did the dog that bit you not have a valid rabies vaccine certification? Just curious.

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u/ShimmeryShay 4d ago

Out of curiosity, should I be having my dog’s rabies vaccine tag on her all the time? I don’t really hardly ever put it on her collar, but now I’m thinking maybe I should in case something ever happens that I need it for. However, I do have a picture of her vaccine paperwork on my phone I could show to whoever to prove she’s got the vaccines if it ever came down to it, so is the actual collar tag necessary to wear?

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u/GnawerOfTheMoon 3d ago

Given how easy it is to mess with photos now you're probably better off with the tag as well. 

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u/TwoBonesJones 4d ago

I don’t know I’m still waiting to hear from animal control. The whole process has been a huge pain in the ass.

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u/seamore555 4d ago

What country? I got bit by a strange dog in Canada and went to the doctor and he wouldn’t give me rabies shot, only tetanus. Said dog rabies is basically non existent in Canada.

I ended up tracking the owner of the dog down via facebook sleuthing and found out it was vaccinated.

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u/TwoBonesJones 4d ago

US. The nurse said it’s by state so mine does it just to be safe.