Talk:Rabies

Update (rabies in the US)

In the section "Epidemiology", subsection "United States", the phrase "The most recent rabies death in the United States was in November 2021, where a Texas child was bitten by a bat in late August 2021 but his parents failed to get him treatment. He died less than three months later." needs to be updated. There has been a rabies death in November 2024, when a California teacher died from rabies contracted from a bat. . The text needs to be updated (or simply removed since the date of "the most recent rabies death in the United States" is not static). 82.78.48.69 (talk) 23:54, 24 January 2025 (UTC)

There have been 6 rabies related deaths in the US in 2025 already, see

https://www.nbcnews.com/health/health-news/rabies-outbreaks-rising-us-deaths-vaccine-rcna227771?utm_source=firefox-newtab-en-us 37.4.251.232 (talk) 18:45, 1 September 2025 (UTC)

Suicides after bites by suspected carriers

Re this diff. ThePlatypusofDoom says that the cited source doesn't mention this claim. But it does:

“ In the 19th. century, canine or street rabies was a scourge everywhere, especially in Europe. Fear of rabies, related to the mode of contamination, the absence of any efficacious treatment, was almost irrational. Patients killed themselves or were killed when bitten by a dog believed to be rabid. In this world of irrational terror the first post-exposure treatment in 1885 gave Louis Pasteur an international aura that his previous major scientific works had not been able to provide. ”

This seems pretty directly on point for the removed claim, which was

It was not uncommon for a person bitten by a dog merely suspected of being rabid to commit suicide or to be killed by others.

I'm not reverting immediately because you could still ask whether this is adequate sourcing or whether the content should appear at this spot, but on its face I don't see much wrong with it. --Trovatore (talk) 04:44, 9 September 2025 (UTC)

Remove outdated information from the section "Epidemiology" subsection "United States" (extended-confirmed-protected edit request)

In the section "Epidemiology", subsection "United States", it is stated "The most recent rabies death in the United States was in November 2021, where a Texas child was bitten by a bat in late August 2021 but his parents failed to get him treatment. He died less than three months later.[118]".

This information is outdated, since there have been several human rabies deaths since 2021 in the United States, including in 2025. This source from Aug. 31, 2025 states "Six deaths from rabies have been reported over the last 12 months in the U.S., the highest number in years, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention".

Therefore, please remove the paragraph ""The most recent rabies death in the United States was in November 2021, where a Texas child was bitten by a bat in late August 2021 but his parents failed to get him treatment. He died less than three months later.[118]". 2A02:2F0F:B300:C00:5DD1:D5D1:9A75:E82C (talk) 07:50, 24 September 2025 (UTC)

Done, I have removed the paragraph; I do not believe we need information on specific cases in this broad article (unless the cases are notable themselves). Traumnovelle (talk) 08:38, 24 September 2025 (UTC)

Adding Aerophobia symptom and add risk factors

I am going to put "extreme aversion to air" since Rabies can cause any infected humans to fear air since if they feel air drafts, it causes spasms on them. You can learn in this reference here: Also I will add all risk factors such as bites or scratch from infected animal, saliva contact on broken skin and mucus membranes. Thank you. Ryansean071 (talk) 21:12, 20 October 2025 (UTC)

Easy fix for unintentionally-misleading sentence

"… Jenna Giese… the first human known to have survived rabies without receiving post-exposure prophylaxis [PEP] before symptom onset.", under After onset, can easily be misunderstood as "… Jenna Giese… the first human known to have survived asymptomatic rabies without getting PEP".

This is troublesome, since it would directly contradict the lede: "Once symptoms appear, the result is virtually always death.", and "…the findings of the research suggest previously undocumented cases of infection and viral replication followed by an abortive infection.". (Or to summarize: Symptomatic rabies is virtually always fatal, but there are documented cases of people with rabies antibodies despite not having been vaccinated i.e. PEP.)

Proposed edit: from "… Jenna Giese… the first human known to have survived rabies without receiving post-exposure prophylaxis before symptom onset."

to "… Jenna Giese… the first human known to have survived symptomatic rabies without receiving post-exposure prophylaxis."

or "… Jenna Giese… the first human known to have survived rabies after developing symptoms (without receiving post-exposure prophylaxis)."

Also, if it helps, https://abcnews.go.com/GMA/Health/story?id=411720&page=1 is an additional source confirming that she developed symptomatic rabies before the Milwaukee protocol was started. I went searching before checking the sources for the sentence—but after I found my own, I checked and saw that at least the first source also confirms she developed severe symptoms before the Milwaukee protocol was started. 50.210.38.173 (talk) 14:34, 2 November 2025 (UTC)

While closing up the tabs I had opened while documenting the above, I belatedly realized: Somehow I missed noticing a typo in the article. As documented in the sources, her name is actually Jeanna Giese (not Jenna Giese). I guess that's what I get for being laser-focused on the fact she developed symptomatic rabies, not asymptomatic. (^_^)˚

So the proposed edits should be to "… Jeanna Giese… the first human known to have survived symptomatic rabies without receiving post-exposure prophylaxis."

or "… Jeanna Giese… the first human known to have survived rabies after developing symptoms (without receiving post-exposure prophylaxis)."50.210.38.173 (talk) 14:43, 2 November 2025 (UTC)

Added (del) formatting to strike through " in the article" above, to correct my misperception that I had faithfully copypasted the article without changes. Not sure how, but I introduced the error myself. 50.210.38.173 (talk) 16:03, 2 November 2025 (UTC)

Postscript: I'll keep checking back on this, if there are any questions. Also, please note that this isn't a case of "Someone else do the work for me", it's a case of being unable because the article is protected — and the work involved would only be for an editor to copypaste one of the two suggested fixes. ~2025-36575-27 (talk) 17:39, 26 November 2025 (UTC)

I will just note the following - the lede says:

"Once symptoms appear, the result is virtually always death."

but it does not say:

"Once symptoms appear, the result is always death."

The former allows that there may be those who haven't died after symptoms appear, while the latter doesn't.

I'm not well-versed enough in these details to make a decision on what verbiage is appropriate or needs to be changed. When I have time later I may look into it. cheers. anastrophe, an editor he is. 18:51, 26 November 2025 (UTC)

Indeed, thank you for echoing the quote I also referred to. To clear up any possible uncertainty, I'm not objecting to its wording at all (in fact, I think it supports my point).

The problem I perceive is that "… Jeanna Giese… the first human known to have survived rabies without receiving post-exposure prophylaxis [PEP] before symptom onset." (under After onset) can easily be misunderstood as "… Jeanna Giese… the first human known to have survived asymptomatic rabies without getting PEP". That is to say, it can be misread as asserting that no one ever survived rabies at all before she did. Which is incorrect, given that the lede correctly points out that cases have been documented of people who apparently survived abortive infections and developed antibodies despite not being vaccinated. (Not to mention, she most definitely did develop [severe] symptoms before being treated with the Milwaukee protocol.) ~2025-36575-27 (talk) 04:05, 27 November 2025 (UTC)

Rare case of human-to-human transmission

This week a case report was released detailing how one patient, who died of rabies, had his kidney transplanted into another patient, who also died of rabies. As this is extremely rare (I believe only the 3rd documented case of rabies-by-transplant) should it be mentioned? https://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/volumes/74/wr/mm7439a1.htm EllieDellie (talk) 23:09, 9 December 2025 (UTC)

Lead image change

I've gone ahead and changed the lead image from a man diagnosed with rabies to a magnified virion of a lyssavirus from later in the article. My reasoning for this as follows:

• There seems to be a precedent when referring to the name of an affliction to use a lead image of the pathogen as opposed to an individual purportedly suffering from the disease that a layman would not be able to readily identify, such as in smallpox.
• Examples of this: yellow fever, plague (disease), influenza, and H1N1.

FMRadio :3_{(chat | edits | she/her)} 15:35, 18 January 2026 (UTC)

Rabies is a virus that is commonly known about so there is a large interest from a lay audience in it. It is also one that people have seen (at least in media or online) so are familiar with the appearance of symptoms. An actual virus image is rarely recognisable to the majority of non-specialised readers except for cases like coronavirus or maybe HIV. Yellow fever lacks any images on Commons of a person infected with it and influenza is too generic in the symptoms for an image of a person afflicted with it to be recognisable. Traumnovelle (talk) 21:16, 18 January 2026 (UTC)

I'm with FMRadio (talk · contribs) here. As the top level photo, I think it should be relatively generic by showing an image of the virus. Photos of people afflicted and showing symptoms belong in the 'Signs and symptoms' section where they would be apropos. Remember that the article is about Rabies - Rabies the virus, rabies the disease (in both humans and animals), means of transmission, prevention, treatment, and more - it's not just about humans with symptoms.

As well, the current image is severely lacking in presenting...well, anything, besides a man in a hospital bed apparently in restraints - nearly seventy years ago. It doesn't meaningfully convey any information about the disease itself, or the symptoms. cheers. anastrophe, an editor he is. 21:49, 18 January 2026 (UTC)

Semi-protected edit request on 20 June 2026

Please delete "Rabies causes about 59,000 deaths worldwide per year,[5] about 40% of which are in children under the age of 15.[19]" The sources 5 and 19 do not exist. Ponderissa (talk) 05:30, 20 June 2026 (UTC)

 Not done: The links were dead, so I have added archives and tagged them as dead. You should be able to see the sources now through the Wayback Machine. jolielover♥talk 07:27, 20 June 2026 (UTC)