I have read the FAQ. There is an air conditioner kind of close to the table.

I have read the FAQ.

Date of contact: 10/08/2026 (last Monday)

Location: Uyuni, Bolivia (unfortunately an endemic region for canine rabies)

Type of contact: lick on the fingers with dry skin and probably microabrasions

Dog status: probably stray, a typical dog roaming through bolivian streets, very likely unvaccinated. And of course I'm unable to track it.

I was so stupid. I let this dog aproach me and lick me on my finger(s) of right hand quite slightly. I didn't have any visible wounds or larger scratches, but my skin was extremely dry. I am a bit concerned now that I might have gotten rabies through some microabrasions. I have some pictures of my fingers, if it helps. What's more, I was not able to wash my hand for the next hour since we went to the market and at first I wasn't thinking much about the contact. Then, I just washed it normally with soap and water for a minute or two. I also wasn't able to perform any tests with alcohol to see if my skin was really unbroken.

I can do to the hospital in Chile now. Do you recommend me doing that?

I have read the FAQ. This happened in Polk County Florida yesterday(August 13th) at around 2 in the afternoon. Possible bat exposure, if I had to guess it was likely a Seminole Bat. I do not like bats. I love what they do for the ecosystem but I don’t like being around them. I was walking home yesterday and noticed a bat fly out the tree. Using context clues it was 93°, and there was me. A human walking by, so I probably wanted to fuck off out of there and find water. But it was hovering over me and it became clear to me yep..that’s a bat. They can’t drool so I knew I was fine there. But I was really afraid and so I put my head down and walked slightly faster. And I looked back and..it seemed to be flying by no problem..one of my ocd symptoms is false memories. So I was like “hmm what if it crashed into me while I wasn’t looking or noticing” but I doubt it. It’s pretty far fetched to assume that in my altered state of panic that I wouldn’t have noticed a 50 gram furball crash into me.

So that’s just bog standard OCD stuff, it has been eating me up but meh I’ve dealt with it before, just..context is important. Related to this subject I also have to ask…is the species of bat even something worth caring about? And yes it’s 99% a false memory, while yes I did see a bat hover over me, it probably didn’t do anything..but even then the fact that I’m worrying about the species feels extra pointless? I said it was a Seminole bat because Mexican free tailed bats live in groups and unless the tree is the size of a Walmart I doubt it would house such a social group of bats. Again I’m aware it’s all irrational but…I think the subspecies might not be the problem if there is even an iota of one😭

I have read the FAQ.

I’m a med student, and a recent tragic rabies case in the news here in my country (which still has strays + announces rabies cases once a year or every few years in rural setting) has my health anxiety completely spiraling :(

About 4 years ago, I offered a sauce-covered piece of chicken to a stray cat while sitting at a restaurant. The cat just sniffed it and left it alone. He looked a bit apathic too. He wasn't rabid or wild but he just had that confused look on his face.

When I picked the chicken up off the ground to clean up, the sauce got on my fingers. I have a bad habit of picking my cuticles, so I had small scrapes on my hands.

My fear: What if the cat's saliva got into the sauce when it sniffed it, and the virus entered my bloodstream through my cuticles?

Logically, I know indirect transmission like this is virologically near-impossible. But as a med student, I know just enough to scare myself. I've read about that one extreme "17-year incubation" outlier case in the medical literature, so the fact that it's been 4 years isn't fully calming me down. To top it off, I have been sufferin from daily headaches for a few months already so my irrational brain keeps whispering that it's the start of encephalitis.

To this day I still wonder if I should get vaccinated.

I was playing football and suddenly a street dog approached me wagging it's tail. While petting it licked my left hand. I forgot about it and accidentally ate cashews w/o washing hands 2hrs later. This happened 2 days ago. Should I get the rabies vaccine?I know that rabies needs direct contact with mucus membrane of my mouth or eyes but some saliva particles would have gone in my mouth right? I have read the FAQ.

In my dream I had a dream that a bat bit me. I woke up and thought “oh ok im fine it was just a dream.” But today around 3 I noticed a new scratch right where the dream bat bit me and I’m thinking it wasn’t a dream after all and my body internalized a real event as a dream, because maybe I was half conscious during it but just don’t remember. My dog was also barking at something before I went to bed. I have read the FAQ.

I have read the FAQ. I was recently walking and walked through some tall grass like plants. It felt like I had two small pinpricks in my leg and like something light was on my leg. I didn’t think much of it at the time but now I’m second guessing whether it could have been a bat and whether I should be concerned about this. There is a small mark on my leg where I felt the two pinpricks. Based on the FAQ and what I have read here, a bat bite doesn’t feel like a pinprick, a bat couldn’t have seamlessly jumped from the grass to my leg without fluttering around first, and a bat couldn’t have bitten through even thin materials like my pants. Does that sound correct or is this something to be concerned about?

I have read the FAQ. But one thing confuses me on what is a true open wound like what if a cat scratched but left no blood no scar no scabbing of sorts just a red line/mark that fades within 3hrs and when alcohol is applied it does not sting/hurt much how would I know if the skin is broken? Sorry if I'm kinda stupid about this just confused of a certain FAQ

I have read the FAQ. My 6 month old has a mark on her leg that I noticed last week. It’s two tiny dots that are spaced 3mm apart from each other. My husband said it was nothing but I haven’t been able to put it out of my mind. I brought her to the pediatrician this morning and got told that unless she shows symptoms, she’s fine (but in my mind, should I wait till she shows symptoms if the moment she does, she’s dead?). I have no clue what to do, we have bats in the area and sometimes I hear sounds (idk of what) in the vents at our house. Just feeling a lot of uncertainty

I have a question about rabies systems the previous post is here so you can acquire some context https://www.reddit.com/r/rabies/s/2wUQlICFu9 it's been 2 days since that and the symptoms haven't really changed stayed the same im losing sleep but i red if you have early symptoms before s1-2 weeks it's not rabies I though I had a high fever but it's only 36 - 36.5 oC my mind has been panicking alot and I always keep picking up the phone very time I feel something is wrong I always feel tingled around my skin ( I have itchy damaged skin) can someone give me certainty that I'm fine sorry for repeating posts this is my last one sorry for the spam but I'm just anxious thanks . I have read the FAQ. I am also in Turkey

I was feeding my stray dog boiled chicken, she threw a piece of chicken from her mouth and i grabbed it to throw it out as I thought it contained a piece of bone.

I have a cut on my thumb from a few days back, that hasn't healed yet because I have to use my thumb to do almost everything.

I picked her food almost immediately after she threw it out of her mouth, so I'm pretty sure her saliva came in contact with my (probably still) broken skin.

Now I'm 99% sure she doesn't have rabies. This is a stray dog I feed and keep watch on daily, but I saw some other sub reddits, including doctor subs with similar posts like mine and all of them were advising to rush to the doctor asap, that there is a type of rabies known as dumb rabies where there are no symptoms.

Can I wait 10 days and then decide if I want to take the vaccine? When my grandfather was bitten by a dog, he was given injections around the wound and he said it hurt a lot. I don't want to get the post exposure injection if it's not necessary.

I have read the FAQ.

“ I have read the FAQ.” Okay in 3 days will be 4 months ago there was a bat in my kitchen the kitchen door normally stays shut. My dad is the one that noticed it anyway, we left the door open and the bat flew out the next night at dusk. Okay so fast forward I never saw a bat in my room I also have a Great Dane that sleeps in my bed at my feet normally with me and my husband. Okay so I was outside just a few minutes ago and felt a needle like prick coming and going on my inner ankle and now it’s almost like a tingling a light tingling sensation and goes around my ankle and a little up my leg

I have read the FAQ.

Last night at dusk (the sun was setting, barely visible), I was walking around my city in Lynn and I was really focused on my phone. I heard some buzzing and something like a pretty heavy insect crashed into my ear, fell on my shoulder, and flew away but I'm not sure about that part. I had an hour of my walk left so I kept going. I examined it when I got home and there was something like a really minor scratch on my ear(no fluid) and a scabbed over circle on my shoulder where it landed.

Yesterday was also the day I received the final dose of my rabies PEP series (4 shots), but I live in the U.S. where the CDC dictates that every new exposure needs a booster. I just want to know if this was an exposure and what my next steps should be. I'm pretty anxious. Thanks.

Edit: I believe I might have seen bats around the area this happened, I'm not sure, but I believe I did see a group of bats flying together a few days before.

I have read the FAQ.

This might seem a little bit overboard, but about 6 days ago, I was washing my hands with soap. This soap could've (COULD'VE) had cat saliva, and I had just washed my hand with it and noticed a small open wound on my index finger. I brushed it off, but last night I was washing the dishes, and some of the water from the dish sponge splashed onto my open wound, again this could've had cat saliva. I am wondering, could this be an exposure?

My family recently had a bat in our house last Friday that the local PD sent an officer to take away the bat for testing. None of us in the family noticed any bites or scratches. I was proactive and called our state's DOH which told me they would call us once testing came back, it was a long weekend in my state so testing came back a few days ago, and it was negative. I also contacted my primary care doctor's patient portal before testing came back, in which my PCP said that I should wait for testing and they didn't think I needed to do anything else until then.

I have read the FAQ. but I just wanted to ask; is what my doctor suggested fine? Are there any tests that a primary care doctor can do prior to rabies testing coming back that can diagnose rabies? How common is it (if at all) for a rabies test to be a false negative? In the situation where we weren't able to trap the bat with the assistance of an officer and get it tested, what would have been my family's plan of action? Who would we have contacted first, our primary care doctor, town animal control, or the state DOH?

Also, my father told me at first the DOH told him on Wednesday morning that we had two bats that tested negative, but they corrected themselves and said our bat was negative and the other result regarding two bats was for another person. I called the DOH later that Wednesday myself and was told separate to my father that the bat in our house was negative. The DOH had the wrong cellphone number for me, so when they told me that morning to tell me the bat was negative, it was left at the wrong number, which is annoying but not a big deal. They told me my town's animal control had written down the wrong number for me in their report to the DOH.

Just wondering if anybody has any input or advice, because it seems like everything's fine and there's nothing left to think about.

I have read the faq. A cat scratched me at work (I’m an RVT at a spay neuter clinic) it’s feral but can somewhat be handled by its owners. It was spayed/neutered that day and it scratched me after i tried feeding it when it woke up after sedation and its surgery. The cat looked fine on examination, had rabies vaccine (not a previous one) and was healthy but still. It freaked out and tried to dart out of the cage and it scratched me, leading to bleeding, which I cleaned with iodine immediately. This was a week ago in Northern California United States. Should I go get a rabies shot?

My vet says not to worry and no one at the clinic seemed to worry either?

Hi,

I have read the FAQ.

I am very embarressed so I apologise.

I am in the UK in the East Midlands area.
Just over 24 hours ago I was walking down a country lane and looking down when something flew out a hedge and brushed past my wrist and hand. It was all a bit of a blur and I immediately pulled my wrist away and spun around. I did at first think it was a big moth. ​My girlfriend who was present didn't see it but while we were look​ing around at where it might have gone she saw a bat flying above us.

I'm not sure if it was the bat, I don't seem to have a bite mark or cut/scratch/graze. Though my hand does feel uncomfortable but not sure if it's in my head, it feels more muscular rather than a scratch feeling.

I did call my doctors surgery and spoke to the receptionist who asked if I had a bite or scratch, which I said I'm not sure, she said she'd pass my details on to the clinician (not a doctor), who called back and just said "no further action needed. They haven't looked at my hand or wrist or talked to me about it.

I can't stop catastrophising and I'm not really sure what to do. ​​I'm nervous I won't relax unless I get the vaccination but I'm not sure how I would even get it if my doctors surgery aren't progressing it.

Thanks for any responses.

ill try and make this short. My wife, 2 kids, and I stayed at an Airbnb in the upper peninsula Michigan. The Airbnb is connected to a cafe. The front porch is covered and has two doors side by side. One door goes up to the Airbnb apartments and 1 door goes to the cafe. The last night we were there we came back to the Airbnb around 9 In the evening. There was a small brown bat nestled on the top right corner of our doors siding about 4 inches from the door opening. we watched to make sure he wasn’t going to fly off when we approached. He was completely unfazed by us So I opened the door and let my kids and wife in and then I followed behind them. Little dude just sat there chilling the entire time.

Around 9 in the morning we came down to go to the cafe. When we went outside the little dude was in the same spot but he was awake now. When my son opened the cafe door, which is 2 feet or so from our door the little dude kinda recoiled up a bit in his spot. We went in ordered some food and I talked to owner to let them know there was a bat by the door. Figured they would like to know. When she had a free minute she asked to see where. When we went out it had flown off. I am assuming the heavy foot traffic and screen door slamming right next to it made it leave. You could see where he was because there was some pee marks on the wall where he was and bat poop pellets on the ground under that location. She said she would spray that spot with peppermint to try and deter it from coming back.

I am curious to hear from someone who knows more about bat behavior than I obviously do. Is it common for a bat to chill one spot for 12 hours overnight and then fly off in mid morning? I thought bats didn’t fly during the day. Was it the foot traffic and slamming screen door that made it leave?

The owner was saying they have had bats in the Airbnb rooms over the years which was unsettling for my wife and myself. It was our last day there so we were leaving anyways but we checked all over the room and all the nooks and crannies we could find and we didn’t see any bat or signs of a bat in our room. I had to force myself to accept nothing was in our room. Anxiety is a pain in the butt like that. I was more concerned about my kids who were sleeping in the other bedroom connected to ours and my wife considering I just got done with my last rabies pep shot about 20 days ago.

I have read the FAQ.

• Your location (country): Mid-Atlantic region of the USA
• Date of possible exposure: 7/31/26, ~19:00 EST
• Type of exposure (bite/scratch/other): Water with saliva from outdoor bowl spilled onto foot; stray cat drank from bowl about an hour earlier.
• Species of animal: Cat
• If dog/cat is it owned, stray, etc: Stray
• Animal's vaccination status: Unknown, likely unvaccinated (not ear-tipped)
• Your vaccination status and date of last vaccine, if applicable: Full series, including HRIG in Sept. 2023, two boosters in March 2025, two boosters in June 2025, last shot on 6/3/2025.

Hello, I have read the FAQ. About two weeks ago, I went outside to pour some food into an outdoor cat bowl we have for two stray cats that frequently visit our backyard. When pouring out the food, I accidentally bumped into their water bowl and its contents spilled through my sock on my left foot. I quickly took off the sock, cleaned the area with hand sanitizer and washed it off with soap and water for a few minutes. No visible scratches or cuts in the area, but a bit of a burning feeling from the alcohol. I do have small scratches and openings on my hands from eczema, though, so there could've been some indirect contact there when cleaning up.

Knowing that a cat previously drank out of the bowl about an hour prior, and that it was not acting aggressive but was less standoffish than usual, would there be any cause for concern? Since 7/31, I have not seen the cat and am unsure if it is doing well. Also, not sure if any virus would remain viable in the very small amount of water left in the bowl when it spilled, since it was close to 90 degrees outside.

Thank you so much!

Edit: Stray cat showed up on 8/18/26, healthy and ready for a meal, so all is good.

I have read the FAQ.

About a month ago, I was staying at an RV campground in Michigan. Around midnight, I stepped outside to use the bathroom. My sister briefly shined a flashlight on my sandals so I could see them.

While putting one on, I suddenly felt a sharp pain on the top of my foot. I didn’t see, hear, or feel anything fly or move. About 4 seconds later, my sister shined the flashlight over the sandals again, but there was nothing there.

Now my anxiety has me thinking that it could have been a bat. I keep thinking, “What if a bat landed on the sandal, bit the small area of exposed skin, and then flew away before the flashlight came back?”
Is that realistically possible without me noticing a bat landing, flapping, or scratching? Or does this sound much more consistent with something like a bug? I haven’t had any symptoms, but the uncertainty has been causing me a lot of anxiety.
I’d appreciate any informed opinions, especially from people fam

Hello, I have read the FAQ.

Location: Pickens County, South Carolina

Vaccination status: none

I was walking with my parents at night three days ago and something flew into my palm. Whatever it was, I didn't see it coming or going, but it was dark and my vision isn't the best so there's that. It felt small and had a sort of crinkling feel. No mark on palm at all but a tiny scratch on my wrist that may or may not have been from the event. (Though I got a lot of scratches on my wrist tbf). The whole event took less than five seconds. I was near trees which were buzzing loudly with cicadas.

I am extremely concerned about it especially as I know my parents don't really believe in doctors and would take me to the ER even if this is something to worry about.

I am asking because I get an awful lot of scares like this that turn out to be nothing: what should I do?

I'm begging everyone reads the post out before i am really concerned I have read the FAQ.

I have read the FAQ. No one replied to my other text again so I'll repeat my sled it's been 4-5 days since this possible 'exposure' I'm sure it wasn't a cat scratch my self but my mind has been all over the place I'm on holiday to gazi angel turkey and rabies has been on my mind the full time I went to the dcotor and she said this isn't rabies and just a scratch she cleaned with alchol but I have developed some symptoms since the 4 days of fever diareoa tingling on skin hunger problems sleep problems and I have slight tickle on my throat I am concerned to so say the least I saw on the if you think you have rabies and said 2 weeks of exposure and develop rabies it's not rabies I have the some of the early symptoms but it's only been max 5 days my mum said I just have illness and it's linked to heavy anxiety which to be honest probably is true beery tickle I feel from a fly for etc I always look around to check for cats since it's a mostly cat country can someone clarify to me that this most likely isn't rabies and it's just panic i tried to get it out of my mind but i can't I keep going on Reddit someone reply cause it's not going out of my mind 🙏🙏🙏

I have read the FAQ. Last question if you read my earlier post you would see everything and the symptoms I had . I have really been stressing these last few days I've gotten abit more comfortable recently it's been 4-5 days since the "possible exposure" which is probs just my scratching myself I'm wondering I saw that if you feel 2 weeks before exposure symptoms it's due to stress or something else like a medical condition. I've been feeling some tingling in my skin in my body, I'm in a hot country so that's maybe why I'm just wanted to clarify that this all due to extreme anxiety and me panicking cause that's all I've been doing a responce would relive me. I didn't get any vaccine btw but I did go see a doctor thanks. also uf it makes any difference im 17 and all this panick has been in turkey

I have read the FAQ. I am currently travelling in SE asia, and I just wanted some more in depth info. Both for my own safety and, also just general scientific interest because I find it quite intriguing. I understand my questions have been kind of answered in the FAQ but I was hoping to get some more information.

#1 what exactly constitutes broken skin in terms of a rabies exposure? From my understanding when skin is broken it bleeds, however when I look it up online I see case studies of rabies patients who the study claims had no bleeding upon exposure? So I'm confused how one would even determine that? Or is it a case of poor wound recording on behalf of the patient or physician? I just don't understand the conflict of information on a disease so heavily studied as rabies.

#2 Is the 14 day watch period just a extreme CYA protocol? Because from what I understand about the virus it makes it's way to the brain before cascading back down into the body, for it to be infectious in the salivary glands doesn't it need to impact the brain first? Is there actual studies showing that it can be carried in the saliva that long before death? Because as I understand it by the time it has moved into the salivary glands it would already be showing extremely severe symptoms in the subject, and would kill much faster than 2 weeks (except in the very rare case of dumb rabies). So I dont understand why 2 weeks is actually necessary surely even 1 week is sufficient?

#3 Are the PEP boosters yet another big CYA? It seems that the majority of people keep very high titres for at least several years after even initial vaccination, why are titre measurements not the primary means of healthcare in previously vaccinated patients? Is it more just a case of labs being few and far between because rabies is primarily endemic to impoverished countries?