Jul 18, 2019
Contributor: Jared Scott, MD
Educational Pearls:
- The CDC recommends rabies prophylaxis if there was a direct encounter with a possibly rabid animal except...
- Bats are treated differently since their bites may be very superficial and not seen/felt. All people with possible close encounters with a bat should receive rabies prophylaxis
- From 1990-2007 there were 34 rabies cases associated with bats:
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- 6 of these had a reported bat bite
- 15 there was a reported exposure but no reported bite
- 11 had no reported bat exposure but DNA testing revealed that the rabies came from a bat
References
Pieracci EG, Pearson CM, Wallace RM, Blanton JD, Whitehouse ER, Ma X, Stauffer K, Chipman RB, Olson V. Vital Signs: Trends in Human Rabies Deaths and Exposures - United States, 1938-2018. MMWR Morb Mortal Wkly Rep. 2019 Jun 14;68(23):524-528. doi: 10.15585/mmwr.mm6823e1. PubMed PMID: 31194721; PubMed Central PMCID: PMC6613553.
https://www.cdc.gov/rabies/specific_groups/doctors/index.html
Summarized by Will Dewispelaere, MS4 | Edited by Erik Verzemnieks, MD