Rabies: Prevention and Response for Park Visitors and Staff

Rabies is a preventable viral infection of mammals that is almost always fatal once symptoms appear. It has been found in animals in all 49 continental states; only Hawaii is free of it. This guide from the National Park Service's health series covers how rabies spreads and what park visitors, staff and volunteers should do about it.

Distribution of rabies variants in the United States. CDC

In people

Rabies usually spreads through the saliva of an infected animal — a bat, raccoon, skunk, coyote or feral cat, for example — by a bite or scratch. It often starts with behavior changes or vague symptoms such as fever, headache, nausea and vomiting, then progresses to neurologic symptoms and death. Symptoms can take weeks to months to appear after exposure.

Rabies can be prevented if treatment, called post-exposure prophylaxis (PEP), is given before symptoms begin. About 60,000 Americans receive PEP each year, which helps keep U.S. human cases to just 1 to 3 a year. Worldwide, rabies is thought to kill about 59,000 people a year. For most people who have never been vaccinated against rabies, PEP consists of rabies immunoglobulin (antibodies) plus four shots over two weeks.

CDC recommends vaccination before exposure (pre-exposure prophylaxis) for people at higher risk because of their travel or their work, such as veterinarians and wildlife biologists. They still need PEP after an exposure, but usually a much simpler and cheaper course.

In animals

Rabies affects only mammals and is fatal to pets and wildlife as it is to people. Rabid animals may lose their fear of people and seem sleepy, confused or aggressive; rarely, they show no obvious signs. Terrestrial rabies first came to the lower 48 states with domestic dogs, but today more than 90% of animal rabies cases reported to CDC each year are in wildlife. The canine strain has been eliminated from the United States, and dogs make up only about 1% of rabid animals reported each year, though dog rabies remains common in many other countries.

Several rabies virus variants circulate in the United States, including raccoon, red fox, gray fox, skunk, coyote and several bat variants. Each is usually tied to one reservoir species but can infect others. Fewer than 1% of bats in the wild have rabies, but bat variants are found across most of the country and cause most human rabies deaths.

In the environment

The virus is fragile. It does not survive long outside a host and is killed by drying, sunlight and common disinfectants.

Prevention

• Enjoy wildlife from a distance; do not touch or pet wild animals.
• Tell a park ranger about any sick or strangely behaving animal, and do not approach it.
• Seal tents, cabins and other lodging so bats and other wildlife cannot get in through small openings; if that is impossible, sleeping under a mosquito net may keep bats off sleepers.
• Teach children about animals and rabies — children are most at risk.
• Keep pets' vaccinations, especially rabies, up to date.
• If you work with animals that could have rabies, or are traveling where rabies is common, ask a medical provider about pre-exposure vaccination.

If you may have been exposed

Treat as a possible exposure any direct or suspected contact with wildlife or an unfamiliar animal — especially a bite or scratch — or waking up with a bat in the room.

1. Wash any bite or scratch immediately with soap and water.
2. Tell a park ranger, who can collect the animal for testing.
3. Contact a health care provider or the local health department as soon as possible about whether you need PEP.
4. Park staff should report exposures or confirmed illness to the NPS Office of Public Health, and sick or dead wildlife to the park resource manager and the Wildlife Health Branch.

Sources

• National Park Service, Office of Public Health, "Rabies": https://www.nps.gov/articles/000/rabies.htm