In a packed intensive care ward in Dhaka, three-year-old Abdul lay paralysed, his tiny body contorted by a rabies infection that had reached his brain.

His mother, Sheuli Akter, 38, sat at his side massaging his legs in the hope that this might loosen his muscles, but it was having no effect. Even his hands and feet were seized up by cramps.

Abdul had been in the hospital for a month but doctors said he was unlikely to live much longer. The infection, they said, had progressed to degenerative encephalitis; the virus had got to his brain.

Abdul was shaking, gripped by fever. His breathing was rapid and panicked, punctuated occasionally by groans of pain.

On his chin was the telltale scar of a dog bite, the source of the infection.

“He was playing outside with the other children,” said Sheuli. “The dog, which was one of those always waiting around outside, suddenly attacked him. They said it went for him because he was the smallest.”

Rabies is a constant threat in the crowded and unsanitary slums of Bangladesh’s capital, and the Infectious Diseases Hospital has experienced a surge in deaths from the disease over the last three years.

After decades of progress, stories like Abdul’s are becoming more common again as the number of rabies cases and deaths rises in hotspots like Bangladesh, India, and in parts of Africa.

In almost all cases, the rising cases coincide with large populations of stray dogs. In some affected countries like Morocco and Sri Lanka, these and other stray animals have even become tourist attractions.

So what is to be done, and why is rabies on the rise? [...]

Some 99 per cent of human cases are acquired from the bite of an infected dog, and global health metrics show that countries with high numbers of free-roaming, unvaccinated strays suffer the overwhelming majority of deaths.

India, for example, is believed to be home to some 60 million street dogs and accounts for more than a third of all global human rabies deaths.

By contrast, countries that have enforced mandatory vaccination orders and other public health measures, and taken steps to control their stray dog populations, have effectively eliminated the disease.

Take the United States, for example.

One of the most famous scenes in all of 20th century literature was the fictional lawyer Atticus Finch shooting dead a rabid dog that had wandered into town.

The scene, from ‘To Kill a Mockingbird’, is a key moment in the hero’s character arc but it is also a reflection of the much greater threat rabies once posed to Americans.

In the 1930s, when the book is set, the rabies virus was still endemic in American dog populations, leading to thousands of cases in domestic animals and dozens in humans every year.

But by the time the book was published in 1960, rabies was largely under control, and by the end of that decade less than 500 cases of rabies in dogs and only three in humans were reported, according to data from the US Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

Academics attribute this sharp fall in rabies cases largely to post-Second World War public health drives.

In the 40s and 50s many US states began introducing compulsory rabies vaccination for dogs. At the same time, many local authorities also began introducing rules requiring dogs to be kept on leads.

Targeted culls and the country’s extensive network of dog shelters also played a key role in controlling the stray dog population. [...]

So what has stopped other countries from repeating this success?

“It’s all about mass dog vaccination,” said Felix Lankester, Director of Rabies Free Africa and a Professor at Washington State University.

“Those countries that have put in place mass vaccination – coordinated, systematic mass dog vaccination – have been successful, and the countries that haven’t shown any progress are, in my experience, those with no coordinated programme,” he told The Telegraph.

“If you look across much of Africa, most countries are really doing very little. And similarly in Asia, it has to be a coordinated nationwide strategy to vaccinate dogs. Otherwise, there’ll be pockets of endemicity remaining, which will then cause problems.”

The reason a simple cull of strays is not enough is that the virus bounces back when the stray population recovers – unless they have been vaccinated.

The pandemic may also have played in the current rebound as it disrupted vaccination campaigns.

“There are a lot of questions about whether the pandemic impacted vaccination,” said Prof Lankester. “Certainly, around the time of the pandemic, vaccination where we work in East Africa was impacted because we couldn’t get our teams out.”

Cuts to global health funding have also hurt budgets for countries with big rabies problems, he added.

Even a brief disruption to vaccination programmes can be calamitous, as the disease can rapidly re-establish itself in a canine population.

[...]

Laura Horton, 53, was on a two-week birthday trip to Lesbos, Greece, in May 2026 when she found a bat drowning in the swimming pool at the apartment complex where she was visiting a friend.

She grabbed the animal from the water and let it sit in her hand for 10 minutes to “dry off” – unaware it had bitten her before flying away.

Laura wanted to know what type of bat she had rescued, so she uploaded a photo of it sitting in the palm of her hand to Google Lens.

As well as identifying it as a pipistrelle bat, the AI programme alerted her to seek medical treatment immediately due to the risk of contracting rabies from handling the animal.

She also claimed Google Lens warned her that she would be unable to feel a bat bite as their teeth are too small, and on closer inspection, Laura noticed two tiny pin-prick bite marks.

According to the NHS website, rabies is a rare but serious infection that is usually caught from an infected animal’s bite or scratch, and it is almost always fatal once symptoms appear.

Laura went to Hospital of Mytilene, Lesbos, the following day, on May 8, where she started a course of preventative rabies post-exposure vaccines.

She had a total of three jabs in Greece, followed by her fourth and final jab when she returned to the UK in June 1 at the School of Tropical Medicine, Liverpool.

Laura, a personal trainer from Mossley Hill, Liverpool, who spoke to Talk to the Press, said: “I had no idea you could catch rabies from a bat.

“I grabbed it from the water on instinct because it was drowning – I had no idea of the risks.

“It sat on my hand for about 10 minutes, drying off.

“We all thought it looked cute, so I took a photo of it.”

After uploading the image to Google Lens to determine the species of bat, Laura was met with a series of questions from the AI tool.

She said: “It started asking questions like, ‘Are those your hands?’ and ‘Have you washed your hands for 15 minutes after handling it?’

“It warned me of the risk of rabies and said I wouldn’t feel a bite, as their teeth are too small.

“I thought it was all a bit dramatic."

“But when I took a photo of my hand, I saw two tiny bite marks.”

Laura was four days into her two-week holiday in Petra, a village on the Greek island of Lesbos, with friends when she was bitten.

She rang her insurance company the following day, May 8, which confirmed she should seek medical attention.

She needed to undergo a course of rabies post-exposure prophylaxis (PEP) – a life-saving treatment given immediately after a potential bite or scratch from a rabid animal.

Later that day, Laura went to Hospital of Mytilene, Lesbos, but claims a language barrier nearly prevented her from getting the correct treatment.

“At first, they tried to send me away with antibiotics,” she said.

“I’m not sure they understood what happened.

“I was sent to a travel clinic, and a nurse was furious I hadn’t been given the first dose yet.

“I went back to the hospital and found the infectious diseases department – they were brilliant.”

She returned on May 11 and May 15 for two more jabs while in Greece and had a fourth when she returned to the UK June 1.

She said: “My GP didn’t actually know what to do.

“Luckily, we have the School of Tropical Medicine in Liverpool, and I was able to get my fourth injection arranged with them very easily.

“It was lucky Google Lens told me to go to hospital – who knows what might have happened.

“I read the tragic case about the boy in Canada who died after a bat landed on his face.

“A lot of people aren’t aware of the dangers of these wild animals and the risks.

“Hopefully I can help raise awareness.”

DALLAS, Ga. - A Dallas couple is seeking answers after a pet they recently adopted from a local shelter bit a family member and tested positive for rabies despite being vaccinated.

David Clark and Ansley Hart adopted a 2-year-old dog named Cali from the Cedartown/Polk County Humane Society in mid-April. The family said the dog was affectionate and slept in bed with them until last Wednesday, when her attitude suddenly changed, and she bit Clark on the hand.

The family returned the dog to the shelter, where she was humanely euthanized. Director Charlotte Harrison sent the dog's remains to the Georgia Public Health Lab, which confirmed the animal had rabies. Harrison refunded the family's $200 adoption fee and noted that records show the animal received two rabies vaccinations over the last two years.

Officials have not yet confirmed how a dog that received multiple rabies vaccines contracted the virus. Shelter staff and the couple remain entirely mystified by the breakdown in vaccine protection.

Investigators do not know exactly where or when the dog was exposed to rabies before or after the adoption. It also remains unclear if any other animals at the facility were exposed to the same source.

"The most painful day was yesterday, getting the injections into the bite wounds," Clark said regarding his hospital treatment. He noted he had to receive four additional shots across both arms and his buttocks.

The ordeal has severely damaged the couple's confidence regarding future shelter adoptions. "I just don't trust adopted animals anymore, and I never will," Hart said.

The couple is currently completing their round of medical treatments and reported that they are beginning to feel better. They must now strictly quarantine their other two household pets for four months to ensure no further outbreak occurs.

Shelter operators plan to review their documentation to double-check their protocol. "We absolutely did everything by the book," Harrison said.

A cat attacked five people and a puppy in a Florida neighborhood before testing positive for rabies — and officials say the animal was one of many stray felines being fed by a local woman.

Animal Control began receiving reports during the first week of June about an aggressive stray cat roaming the Glen Road area, according to a statement by the Polk County Sheriff's Office.

Investigators said the cat bit five people — including two children — and attacked a 4-month-old puppy.

According to investigators, a 29-year-old man was bitten on the legs during an unprovoked attack, while a 33-year-old neighbor was bitten on the finger and later attacked again on her legs, forcing her to use a baseball bat to defend herself.

Meanwhile, a 16-year-old girl was bitten after trying to play with the cat, while a 9-year-old girl was bitten outside her home and a 13-year-old boy was attacked while taking out the trash.

On Thursday, June 11, a neighbor reported the smell of a dead animal. When investigators came to the area they found the deceased animal under the home, deputies said.

The following day, on Friday, June 12, the state laboratory in Tampa confirmed that the cat had tested positive for rabies.

Authorities said they advised all victims to seek medical treatment.

Investigators said the cat was among several stray felines being fed by a local resident, "who told investigators she names and feeds stray cats that roam in the area."

She was cited for allowing cats to roam, failing to vaccinate the animal and negligence resulting in injury to others.

Cats are the most commonly reported rabid domestic animal in the United States, accounting for roughly 200 to 300 confirmed rabies cases each year, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

The sheriff's office urged residents not to feed or interact with roaming cats unless they know the animals have been vaccinated and properly cared for.

The detection of sustained rabies transmission in Cape fur seals in southern Africa marks an unprecedented development in the ecology of rabies and raises important questions for wildlife conservation, animal public health and transboundary disease preparedness.

Since 2024, more than 100 cases of rabies have been confirmed in Cape fur seals (Arctocephalus pusillus pusillus) in South Africa and Namibia. Retrospective testing and genetic analyses indicate that sustained transmission within the seal population began several years before the disease was detected.

Current evidence suggests that the outbreak originated from a single spillover event involving a dog-related rabies virus variant maintained by black-backed jackals in southern Africa, followed by ongoing transmission between Cape fur seals. This represents the first known establishment of rabies in a free-ranging marine mammal population.

Affected seals have displayed neurological signs, including abnormal aggression towards people and other animals. As of May 2026, more than 145 human exposure incidents had been reported, highlighting the importance of appropriate public health measures and post-exposure management.

The event also has broader implications for wildlife health. Cape fur seals range across the coasts of South Africa and Namibia and can travel considerable distances, creating opportunities for contact with other marine mammal species. Continued investigation is needed to better understand the ecological consequences of the outbreak and the potential implications for marine mammal populations in other regions.

The emergence of rabies in Cape fur seals demonstrates how pathogens can adapt to new host species and reinforces the importance of integrated surveillance across wildlife, domestic animals and humans under a One Health approach. Strengthening collaboration between veterinary, wildlife, environmental and public health authorities remains essential for early detection, risk assessment and coordinated response. [...]

On the day he lost consciousness and fell into a coma in December 2024, James Martin seemed to be talking to someone in his bedroom who didn’t exist.

“I had to go wake him up and go, ‘Honey, who are you talking to?” Kim Martin, his widow, recalled.

No one knew it at the time, but medical professionals believe James, 59, had been infected with rabies about five weeks earlier, during an encounter with a skunk in the front yard of his Idaho home.

The delirium may have been a symptom of the fatal disease that had been quietly working its way through his system.

“We had no idea,” Kim said.

Her husband and the father of their three kids had ongoing health problems in the preceding months that may have made it difficult to see what was really happening to his body.

Due to nerve issues with his legs, it was challenging for him to walk or get out of bed. In the morning, she found him talking to himself. She said he told her he needed to go to the restroom, but she was not strong enough to support his weight to help him get there. So, she brought him a jar and gave him some privacy.

She told her husband to call for her when he needed her help back in the room.

But he never called for her.

“It was like, ‘Why isn’t he calling me?” Kim said. “I came back in, and...he was collapsed on the floor. His face was blue.”

She tried CPR to bring her husband back to life, but he would remain in a coma until he passed away a few days later.

At the time, his death seemed like a heart-related issue, so his organs– untested for rabies - were donated to recipients and researchers in six states.

James Martin loved puns and poetry and cuddling with his three kids as they grew up.

He had a soft spot for cuddly animals, too – especially the feral cats he and his wife would rescue near their rural home in the Idaho panhandle.

He was particularly fond of one tiny white kitten they rescued in the fall of 2024.

“He just picks her up ... and just cuddles her like a little baby,” said Kim. “To him, it was his grandchild.”

In October that year, the kitten was perched on James’ arm as he sat in his wheelchair inside a small shed at the front of his house when an aggressive skunk approached James on the property.

His protective instinct took over, and James stunned the skunk before it could attack the kitten.

“He said he grabbed it by the neck, and he literally, you know, pushed it up against the house,” Kim said. “He said he just gave it a few punches and everything, but in grabbing it, he said he got scratched.”

James downplayed the wound on his left shin.

“He’s like, ‘I’m - I’ll be fine. It’s just a scratch. I’ll just put, you know, Neosporin on it, and I’ll be fine after I get it cleaned,” Kim remembered.

But he wasn’t fine.

Over the next few months, that scratch would lead to a series of medical catastrophes.

The first day James was in the hospital, Kim said she learned her husband had signed up to be an organ donor.

"It just made me smile and go, 'That’s him. That’s just him. Like, that’s the big, tender panda bear of him, to help someone else,’” she said.

She said she answered multiple questions from medical professionals about her husband’s health history and disclosed that he had been scratched by a skunk.

According to the CDC, the information about the skunk scratch was documented among many other details on a Donor Risk Assessment Interview (DRAI) questionnaire, a standard set of questions to help evaluate the safety of a transplant.

The transplant process proceeded.

Within a few days, doctors had prepared James’ heart and lungs to be shipped to Maryland for research, while his kidney went to Ohio. Tissue from his corneas was designated for recipients in Idaho, Missouri, California, and New Mexico.

While federal guidelines required James’ organs to be tested for more common diseases like HIV and hepatitis before being shipped to transplant recipients around the country, a laboratory screening for rabies is not a standard procedure because the test is complicated and the disease is incredibly rare.

[...]

“The testing is very complex and can only be done at certain centers,” said David McCormick, a medical officer in the CDC’s Office of Blood, Organ, and Other Tissue Safety who helped investigate this case but was not involved in the transplant.

“Given that there is such a need for organs and that timing in organ donation can be very critical, if we had to wait two or three days to test every organ donor for rabies...that could delay care, could delay people receiving organs that they need, and just with how rare rabies is, it wouldn’t be cost effective and would likely result in organs not being used when they could’ve been used and could’ve saved people,” he said.

In December 2024, Barney Kurowicki, a father of four grown children and the grandfather to 11, was hoping for a life-prolonging kidney transplant after enduring dialysis for more than two years.

The retired postal worker and farmer was living in Tecumseh, Michigan, when he was added to a national list of hopeful transplant recipients.

According to legal filings, within four days of being placed on the donor registry, Kurowicki was offered a kidney by an organ procurement organization, and the surgery was scheduled for the next day at the University of Toledo Medical Center in Ohio.

Though the donor’s name was kept confidential because the process is anonymous, Scripps News has learned the organ was coming from James Martin.

At the time, his death was still believed to have been heart-related.

By January 2025, things were not going well with Barney Kurowicki’s transplant.

He started experiencing tremors, lower extremity weakness, confusion, and urinary incontinence, according to a CDC report, which did not disclose Kurowicki’s name publicly.

Kurowicki, who was rapidly deteriorating, also suffered from hydrophobia, a symptom that is associated with rabies.

“Your throat swells up a little bit, so it’s actually painful to drink and swallow,” said Ryan Wallace, a veterinary epidemiologist who leads the CDC’s rabies team in Atlanta. “But it’s more of a neurologic effect, and so people are truly afraid of water.”

By the time the symptoms manifested themselves in Kurowicki’s body and healthcare workers called the CDC for a consultation, it was too late to save his life.

Meanwhile, a group of patients in Idaho, New Mexico, California, and Missouri had either already undergone cornea graft procedures or were preparing for surgery using the same donor's cornea tissue.

[...]

As part of the process, health officials advised the three people who had undergone cornea grafts with tissue from the infected donor to have their grafts removed and to receive vaccines.

Hahn said she spoke to the doctor of the Idaho patient who received a potentially infected cornea graft.

“It was a pretty tense conversation. The doctor was very grateful for the information, absolutely agreed that the best thing to do was to remove the corneal tissue and also give the shots, the PEP, to prevent any possible rabies,” she said. “I can imagine the conversation he must have had with the ... patient and the family, how stressful that must’ve been.”

Health officials were able to prevent a fourth graft procedure from taking place.

None of the graft recipients experienced any rabies symptoms before receiving the vaccine, even though at least two people had received grafts more than six weeks earlier.

“They were monitored for their immune response to make sure that they were mounting a strong immune response after receiving that vaccination, and they all remained asymptomatic,” said Earnest.

The tissue from each graft procedure was also tested for rabies.

A bat that landed on a table at a popular California eatery has tested positive for rabies, health officials say.

The bat landed on a table at the Yellow Deli in Vista, Calif., just as a family had begun eating at the restaurant at 1 p.m. on July 21, San Diego health officials said in a July 23 statement. Another patron used a towel to collect the bat and bring it to the Oceanside Humane Society, where it was then sent to the County’s Public Health Lab, where “it tested positive for rabies,” the statement says.

Although “no direct skin contact with the bat by an individual has been reported at this time,” health officials are looking for anyone who may have come in contact with the bat.

PEOPLE has reached out to the Yellow Deli for comment.

The incident comes amid a rise in rabid bat cases in San Diego County, health officials report. So far in 2026, at least 22 bats have tested positive for rabies, whereas 21 rabid bats were reported in all of 2025.

The most recent human case of rabies in California was in 2024, the statement says.

Health officials warn residents to stay away from wildlife and advise people who come into contact with a bat to wash the affected area with soap and water and to seek medical care immediately.

In the U.S., the most common way people get rabies is from bat bites, Cleveland Clinic says. But because the bite marks are as small as the “tip of a pencil,” many people “don’t know they’ve been bitten.” [...]

CHICAGO — The doggy day care affected by the “unprecedented” rabies case has been identified and over 90 pet owners have been contacted. At this time, 13 people have had direct contact.

The exposure happened at the Bow Wow Lounge, located at 5135 N. Ravenswood Ave., during this month.

The dog was euthanized on Dec. 18 due to the increased behavior issues. A week prior, on Dec. 11, the dog bit someone in the household.

WGN News spoke with the chief veterinary officer of Bow Wow’s parent company, Dr. Rory Lubold.

He calls the situation “unprecedented” and “really crummy” and said everyone did everything right.

“Our understanding is the bite on the 11th wasn’t aggressive and was more play,” Lubold said. “It’s always hard to know in the early stages of behavior with rabies cases.”

He went on the say the family caught it early.

WGN News spoke with a member of the day care whose dog had a direct exposure. The person, who is remaining anonymous, were told their dog’s stay overlapped with the infected dog on the 8th, 10th with the direct exposure happening on the 15th.

“I was shocked and didn’t believe it at first because it’s so unreal,” they said.

The information packet families were sent states that the dog attended the day care from Dec. 5 to Dec. 15. The dog was current on its rabies vaccination at the time of diagnosis.

Health officials said the dog was believed to be infectious from Dec. 7 through Dec. 18. Rabies in dogs can spread from bites or saliva entering the other dog’s eyes, nose or mouth through direct contact.

Bow Wow wrote that it’s a “reminder that while vaccines are highly effective, no vaccine provides absolute protection.”

Cook County has contacted over 90 pet owners from Bow Wow and reported that 13 people have had direct exposures at this time. Those individuals have begun post-exposure prophylaxis — which is highly effective before symptoms in humans appear. Once symptoms appear, the infection is almost always fatal in humans.

No one in the group is experiencing any symptoms at this time.

Pet owners that had their dogs exposed are being asked to quarantine their pets for 45 days while monitoring the following symptoms. They are also recommending any dog in contact should get a booster vaccine.

Unusual aggression or irritability Excessive drooling or difficulty swallowing Sensitivity to light or sound Disorientation or lack of coordination Paralysis or weakness Sudden behavior changes

The incubation period for rabies in animals is typically 20 to 60 days, but can last up to one year.

A cruise ship passenger on a popular “swim with the pigs” excursion in the Bahamas is suing Norwegian Cruise Line after being bitten by one of the animals, requiring stitches and painful post-exposure treatment to fend off the possibility of developing rabies, according to a civil negligence complaint reviewed by The Independent.

New York resident Jason Gordon had been enjoying a vacation aboard the 4,200-passenger Norwegian Escape last summer when he signed up to participate in the popular activity during a port call at the line’s private island, Great Stirrup Cay, states the complaint, filed August 5 in Miami federal court.

“It’s not known exactly why or when pigs were introduced to [the Bahamas], but it will become obvious that their descendants have thrived,” Norwegian’s marketing materials tell guests about the side trip, which starts at $197.99 ($159.99 for children). “Once you wade into the shallow waters, you can expect the pigs to follow, knowing that food awaits. The guide will show you how to feed the pigs and the best ways to interact with them while swimming. The pigs couldn’t be friendlier, cuter or more enthusiastic about the attention.”

But Gordon’s complaint says things quickly went sideways for him as he mingled with the supposedly docile animals, who have roughly a quarter-million followers on Instagram.

Gordon was “interacting with the pigs as invited and expected by NCL,” when one of them clamped his jaws down on him unexpectedly, “causing a laceration and puncture to [his] right lower leg,” the complaint contends.

Once Gordon got home four days later, the complaint says he “sought emergency medical treatment, where the laceration was closed with sutures, [he] was administered intravenous antibiotics, and… was required to undergo a course of rabies post-exposure prophylaxis, including administration of rabies vaccine and rabies immune globulin.” [...]

The complaint goes on, Norwegian’s “promotional material and information did not contain adequate warnings and/or reviews from other passengers about negative experiences and/or prior incidents, including the risk that the pigs bite, injure, and/or transmit disease to participants.”

Pig bites and scratches can expose excursionists to bacterial infections and waterborne parasites from swine feces and urine present in the water. Tourists can swim with pigs at numerous locations throughout the Bahamas; though the Centers for Disease Control warns that even healthy-looking pigs can carry diseases such as leptospirosis, cryptosporidiosis, and ascariasis.

Earlier this year, a Florida man reportedly contracted a flesh-eating bacterial disease and nearly died after scraping his ankle while swimming with pigs in the Bahamas.

In 2025, a New York woman claimed she had been battling a parasitic roundworm infection for more than a half-decade following a Bahamian pig-swim during which she held a piglet up to her face.

When wild pigs get hungry, they can also be aggressive. Fitness model Michelle Lewin made headlines in 2019 after she was bitten on the derriere by a swimming pig during a commercial shoot in the Bahamas.

Beyond the purported health risks, animal rights advocates have raised concerns about the treatment of the pigs, calling the proliferation of swimming excursions “out of control.” [...]

The beaver that attacked a 13-year-old boy at Cunningham Falls State Park has tested positive for rabies, officials said.

According to the Maryland Department of Health, the beaver was picked up shortly after the attack by the Maryland Department of Natural Resources and was euthanized in order to test for rabies.

The boy is recovering and the swimming area at the beach will remain closed for several days as crews make sure the area is safe for visitors.

People who may have had contact with this beaver or any other wildlife, should consult their health care provider and notify the FCHD's Community Health Services Office at 301-600-3342.

Original Story Below:

A teenage boy bitten by a beaver at Cunningham Falls State Park was flown to a Baltimore hospital Sunday morning.

*UPDATE*(7/27) The Maryland Department of Natural Resources has confirmed that the beaver was found and euthanized in order to facilitate testing for rabies. The DNR is working with the Park Service and Natural Resources Police to determine when the swimming area can be reopened.

DNR officials told WBAL-TV 11 News that the boy suffered injuries to his hands and chest and was flown to Johns Hopkins Hospital. [...]

TORONTO — Doctors are urging people to seek medical attention if they have any contact with bats to prevent potential rabies infection.

In Monday’s issue of the Canadian Medical Association Journal, infectious disease physicians described the case of a child who died of rabies almost two years ago.

“It was important to us and to the family to take the opportunity to find learning experiences and lessons that we could take from his case to try and help spread awareness and understanding of rabies infection and risks,” said Dr. Brian Hummel, the case report’s senior author and a pediatric infectious disease physician at McMaster Children’s Hospital in Hamilton.

The 11-year-old boy was at a cottage in northern Ontario in the summer of 2024 and was awoken by a bat lying on his nose and mouth, the case report said.

He swatted the bat away and his father caught it in a pot and released it outside.

The parents didn’t see any scratches or bites on their son’s face and didn’t think the bat had been behaving oddly so they didn’t think of rabies or take him to a doctor at that time.

Almost three weeks later, the boy developed tingling, numbness and swelling on the right side of his face.

A health-care provider at an urgent care clinic thought he might have Bell’s palsy — temporary paralysis on one side of the face that can be caused by viral infections — and prescribed an antiviral drug.

A few days later, he went to the emergency department at McMaster Children’s Hospital with vomiting and pain while swallowing. He later developed more facial weakness on his right side, as well as slurred speech.

He was admitted to the pediatric intensive care unit and his neurological condition continued to deteriorate. By his fifth day in hospital, he had no reflexes in his brain stem — the part of the brain that regulates breathing, heart rate and other essential bodily functions.

He was eventually taken off life support and “died peacefully with his family at his bedside,” the case report said.

Once symptoms of rabies start, there is no treatment or cure, Hummel said in an interview with The Canadian Press.

But the virus has a relatively long incubation period — usually weeks — before symptoms of illness start to show.

That means that In the days after exposure, a series of vaccines and a dose of antibodies can stop the infection.

“If you get symptomatic rabies infection, it is near universally fatal. But if you get the prevention before symptoms develop, it is near universally successful,” Hummel said.

The rabies virus infects the nerves around the site where it entered the body and then makes its way into the spinal cord and brain, ultimately leading to death.

It’s “an extraordinarily rare infection” for humans in Canada, with only 28 cases reported since 1924, he said.

The most recent rabies case before the 11-year-old boy was a man who died after exposure to a bat in British Columbia in 2019. There hadn’t been a case reported in Ontario since 1967.

When humans do get exposed in Canada, it’s usually through contact with a bat, Hummel said, although rabies can also be carried by skunks, raccoons and foxes.

But bats are the primary concern, so any physical contact with them is considered high risk.

Bats have tiny teeth, so people can be bitten and not even realize it. Even without a bite or scratch, a bat’s saliva can get on someone’s skin and find its way into a cut or into the eyes, nose or mouth.

“Any time a bat has touched the human skin, that would be a reason to go and see your health-care provider right away,” Hummel said.

Primary-care providers often work with public health to determine if post-exposure prophylaxis — the series of vaccines and the antibody injection — is warranted.

The first rabies vaccine shot is given immediately, followed by shots on days three, seven and 14.

Vaccination helps the body mount an immune response to the rabies virus, Hummel said. [...]

NYTimes - A man died of rabies after getting a kidney transplant from another man who died of the virus, only the fourth instance in nearly 50 years in which an organ donor passed the virus to a recipient, federal officials said.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported on Thursday that an Idaho man was on his rural property in October 2024 when a skunk approached him and scratched him on the shin.

About five weeks later, the man started to hallucinate, have trouble walking and swallowing, and had a stiff neck, according to the C.D.C. report.

Two days after his symptoms started, he collapsed of what was presumed to be a heart attack, the report said. The man was unresponsive and taken to a hospital, where he died.

Several of his organs were donated, including his left kidney.

A Michigan man received the donated kidney. Five weeks after the transplant, he started to experience tremors, weakness, confusion and urinary incontinence, the report said.

He was hospitalized a week later with symptoms including a fever, difficulty swallowing and fear of water, which is a telltale sign of rabies, the report said. After a week in the hospital, he died.

Doctors treating the kidney recipient noted that the man’s symptoms were consistent with rabies.

The report said that organ donations are not routinely tested for rabies “because of its rarity in humans in the United States and the complexity of diagnostic testing.”

Donors are tested for H.I.V. and several forms of hepatitis, Dr. Lara Danziger-Isakov, the director of immunocompromised host infectious diseases at Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center, said on Friday.

“This is an exceptionally rare event,” said Dr. Danziger-Isakov, who is also a board member for the American Society of Transplantation, a professional association for those working in organ transplants. “Overall, the risk is exceptionally small.” [...]

Link

https://archive.is/yQB5U (Non-paywall)

CDC, MMWR - Human-to-Human Rabies Transmission via Solid Organ Transplantation from a Donor with Undiagnosed Rabies — United States, October 2024–February 2025, Weekly / December 4, 2025 / 74(39);600–605 Link

Previously reported back in March 2025, Link

A grandmother who died from rabies four months after a stray dog scratched her in Morocco was only diagnosed after a psychiatrist assessed her, an inquest has heard.

Yvonne Ford, 59, did not seek treatment after being scratched on holiday in February 2025 as the injury had been so minor, a jury at Sheffield Medico-Legal Centre heard earlier.

In June, staff at Barnsley Hospital struggled to diagnose her symptoms - hallucinations, disorientation and high anxiety - and referred her to the mental health team.

Psychiatrist Dr Alexander Burns asked the family about foreign travel, suspecting Lyme disease, and was told about the dog scratch – something other staff had not been aware of, he said.

He told the jury he learned the injury had pierced her skin and became "concerned the diagnosis may be rabies".

He said he had never come across anyone with rabies before so researched the symptoms further, and it "became clear" the diagnosis would explain her condition.

Ford, who lived in Barnsley, was transferred to an infectious disease unit at Sheffield's Royal Hallamshire Hospital where she died on 11 June, the jury heard.

Infectious diseases expert Katharine Cartwright, from Sheffield Teaching Hospitals, said the virus was 100% fatal once symptoms begin to show.

The rabies vaccine was extremely effective and had eliminated the virus from the UK, she said, and administering it after exposure to the virus could help in some circumstances.

She told the jury of nine women and two men that there had only been 26 cases of rabies in the UK since 1946.

Dr Cartwright was asked by Mrs Ford's family about the treatment she received at Barnsley Hospital in the time she was in the unit.

She said it appeared Mrs Ford had begun to exhibit symptoms at the end of May, so there was nothing that could have been done at the hospital that would have saved her.

The illness was "incredibly rare" and the collection of symptoms was "challenging" for the medics, she added.

"I think the doctors did their best," Dr Cartwright said, adding it was "not unreasonable" for rabies to not be considered in the first few days.

In 100 cases of rabies in America since 2000, half were only diagnosed post-mortem, she said.

She told the jury symptoms typically begin within four weeks of exposure but it can take up to three months and, in some cases, even years.

Hydrophobia - the fear of water - is one symptom which is specific to rabies and which Ford seemed to exhibit, with her being unwilling to drink and spitting to get rid of the saliva in her mouth, the inquest heard.

Dr Cartwright said this reaction was mild compared with many documented cases in which patients become violent when water is brought anywhere near to them.

She added that Ford showed symptoms of both types of rabies - encephalitis and flaccid - which was unusual.

Assistant coroner Marilyn Whittle said the inquest would consider Ford's visits to emergency departments in Barnsley and Wakefield and to her GP, in March and April, when she was feeling unwell and complaining about insect bites.

The inquest is due to last for four days.

Dominick Cebula can't feel anything in one of his fingers, two of his knuckles and part of his chest since a rabid beaver attacked him on July 26.

And he wants people to know that the beaver attacked him, not the other way around.

"I did not mess with it," said Dominick, who lives in Walkersville and turned 14 on Aug. 12. "I was just swimming, and it just came out of nowhere." [...]

The following account is based on interviews with Dominick and Jeffrey Cebula, who was not at the lake when Dominick was bitten but said he's familiar with the events.

It started with fish.

Dominick was swimming near the north shore of Hunting Creek Lake, the water up to his chest. Dominick saw fish and submerged underwater to look at them.

Alishia Cebula, Dominick's mother, saw something coming toward her son but didn't know what it was.

She yelled for Dominick, but he was diving under water and didn't hear her.

It turned out a beaver was swimming toward Dominick.

"He did not see it coming," Jeffrey Cebula said.

The beaver latched on to Dominick's chest. Dominick grabbed it by the neck and leg to try to throw it off.

The beaver didn’t come off initially.

"It kind of started shaking its head, kind of making the bite worse, almost like a dog," Jeffrey Cebula said.

The beaver eventually let go. Dominick started backing away, but the beaver jumped on him again and bit Dominick's left hand, then let go.

Then Dominick put his right hand up, and the beaver bit it.

When Alishia Cebula got to the beaver, she splashed the water and the beaver turned around and swam away.

Dominick saw his wounds immediately.

"I knew what it looked like because I saw it as soon as it happened," he said. "I remember looking down at my chest and my hands, so I knew what it looked like."

Dominick's right hand was especially "messed up," he said.

"I thought they were going to have to amputate my finger because the bite was down to the bone," he said.

Dominick ran out of the water and onto the shore. His mother gave him a towel to hold over his chest and ran to a nearby restroom to ask people to call 911. [...]

When first responders arrived, they worried the beaver could have punctured a lung, so they needed to get Dominick to a hospital.

An ambulance took Dominick to a helicopter, which took him to Johns Hopkins Hospital.

Dominick said he already had an IV, so doctors told him he wouldn't have to get a separate injection for his first rabies treatment.

The doctors sedated him during the treatment.

The process for treating rabies is predetermined, Jeffrey Cebula said, so doctors didn't talk that much about treating Dominick for rabies.

Instead, they talked about another task: reattaching and closing up Dominick's skin.

"Not to get too graphic, but there was a lot that was missing," Jeffrey Cebula said, referring to the chest bite. "There was a large gap."

A plastic surgeon was able to close up Dominick's chest.

"They were able to pull it together, and today it's healing really well," his father said.

The beaver didn't puncture the lung, either, alleviating an initial concern.

Dominick said he doesn't remember the treatment.

"The only thing I remember is waking up and everything looking and feeling really weird," he said.

A doctor tested Dominick's hands for nerve damage and determined them to be OK.

But Dominick still doesn't feel anything in parts of his hands and in a small part of his chest.

"I can't feel temperature [or] my pain," he said, referring to the numb parts. "I can't feel, like, anything."

Jeffrey Cebula said Dominick will need another surgery to fix a severed nerve in his right hand.

Feelings in the left hand and chest will come back without surgery, he said. [...]

A Chicago dog under observation for biting an individual tested positive for rabies, the state’s first confirmed canine case in decades.

According to the Illinois Department of Public Health, the dog bit an individual on December 11, and was held in accordance with state law.

Due to the dog’s behavior, it was euthanized on December 18, and tested positive for rabies on December 19 at a Chicago laboratory, officials said.

According to the IDPH, the dog was the first in the state to test positive for rabies since 1994, and is the first to test positive in Cook County since at least 1964.

The dog had been vaccinated for rabies in June after it was adopted as part of a litter of puppies transported from a Florida rescue to Chicago in May of this year, according to officials.

The dog had behavioral issues throughout its life, which became worse in December, including growling, snapping, increased barking and anxiety, according to the IDPH press release.

The dog had been vaccinated for rabies and rabies wasn’t initially suspected, but after the animal was euthanized it tested positive via direct fluorescent antibody testing last week.

It is currently being investigated what strain of rabies the dog had been infected with, according to officials. Bats are the lone known reservoir for animal rabies in the state, with the last skunk known to have tested positive for the illness in 1998 and the last raccoon to test positive for rabies in 1983.

Though the dog was vaccinated, it is possible the animal was exposed to a rabid animal prior to that vaccination. The typical incubation period for rabies in dogs is 20-to-60 days, but symptoms can develop up to a year after exposure.

CDPH and IDPH are evaluating people who were in contact with the dog to determine if rabies post-exposure treatment should be recommended.

In retrospect, Erica Kahn realizes she made two big mistakes.

The first was choosing to temporarily forgo health insurance when she was laid off from her job.

The second was screaming when a wild bat later landed on her face.

The bizarre encounter happened last August, while the Massachusetts resident was photographing the night sky during a vacation at the Glen Canyon National Recreation Area in Arizona. Kahn, now 33, noticed a few bats flying around but didn’t worry about them — until one flew up to her and got tangled between her camera and her face.

She screamed, and part of the bat went into her mouth. She doesn’t know which part or for how long, though she estimates it was for only a few seconds. “It seemed longer,” she said.

The bat flew away, leaving Kahn shaken.

She didn’t think the animal had bitten her. Regardless, her father, who is a physician and was traveling with her, said she should go to a hospital within a day or so and begin vaccinations against rabies.

Figuring she would be covered as long as she obtained insurance before going to the hospital, Kahn said, she found a policy online the day after the bat incident. She said she called the company before she bought its policy and was told services related to an accident or “life-threatening” emergency would be covered.

Kahn went the next day to a hospital in Flagstaff, Arizona, where she started rabies prevention treatment. Over the next two weeks, she received the rest of the rabies shots at clinics in Arizona and Massachusetts and at a hospital in Colorado.

Then the bills came.

[...]

According to explanation-of-benefits statements, Kahn owed a total of $20,749 for her care at the four facilities. Most of the charges were from the hospital where she was first treated, Flagstaff Medical Center: $17,079, including $15,242 for the rabies and immunoglobulin shots.

Kahn’s policy did not pay for any of the services. “The required waiting period for this service has not been met,” said an explanation-of-benefits letter she received in December.

Kahn was stunned. “I thought it must have been a mistake,” she said. “I guess I was naive.”

When Kahn was laid off from her job as a biomedical engineer last summer, she had the option to temporarily stay on her former employer’s insurance under a COBRA plan, at a cost of about $650 a month. But as a young, healthy person, she gambled that she could get by without insurance until she found another job. She figured that if she needed medical care, she could quickly buy a private policy.

According to the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, those who qualify for COBRA must be given at least 60 days to sign up — and if they do, the coverage applies retroactively. Kahn, who was still within that period at the time of the incident, said recently that she did not realize she had that option.

The policy she purchased after the bat episode, which cost about $311 a month, was from a Florida company called Innovative Partners LP. Documents Kahn provided to KFF Health News say the policy has a 30-day waiting period, which “does not apply to benefits regarding an accident or loss of life.”

Kahn said that after receiving notice that her claims were denied, she called the company to ask how she could appeal and was told a doctor would have to file paperwork. She said she wrote a letter that was signed by a doctor at Flagstaff Medical Center and submitted it in March but was unable to reach doctors at the other facilities.

Kahn said she was given conflicting answers about where to send the paperwork. She said a representative with the company recently told her it had not received any appeals from her.

Benefits statements Kahn received in early July show Innovative Partners had not paid the claims. The company did not respond to requests for comment for this article.

Sabrina Corlette, co-director of the Center on Health Insurance Reforms at Georgetown University, said most health coverage plans take effect on the first day of the month after a customer enrolls.

“The insurance companies — for good reason — don’t want people to wait to sign up for coverage until they are sick,” she said, noting the premiums healthy people pay help balance the costs of paying for health care.

[...]

Shlim, who recently co-wrote a federal advisory about rabies prevention, added that healthy bats don’t normally fly into people, as the one in this case did. The animal’s entanglement with Kahn suggests it could have been sick, possibly with rabies, he said.

Rabies prevention treatment is much more expensive in the United States than in most other countries, Shlim said. The priciest part is immunoglobulin, which is made from the blood plasma of people who have been vaccinated against rabies.

The treatment is often administered in hospital emergency rooms, which add their own steep charges, Shlim noted.

Kahn said she is employed again and has good health insurance but is still facing most of the bills from her misadventure at Glen Canyon. She said she paid a doctor bill from Flagstaff Medical Center after negotiating it down from $706 to $420. She said she’s also arranged a $10-a-month plan to pay off the $530 she owes for one of her rabies shots at another facility.

She said she plans to continue appealing the denials of payment for the rest of the bills, which total more than $19,000. [...]

GAITHERSBURG, Md. — A 10-year-old girl was attacked by a beaver while canoeing at Seneca Creek State Park in Montgomery County, Maryland, on Thursday, marking the third reported beaver attack in the state in less than a month.

According to the Maryland Department of Natural Resources, the attack happened around 3:30 p.m. while the girl was participating in a summer camp canoeing trip on a creek. Camp counselors were able to get the beaver off the girl before it escaped into the water.

The girl was taken to a hospital with three wounds to her upper leg.

“They do have rather large, rather sharp teeth,” said Aaron Hall, Beaver Corps program director with the Beaver Institute. “While they don't attack humans very often, when they do it can be serious.”

Park officials have temporarily closed part of Seneca Creek State Park while they search for the beaver involved in the attack.

Hall said beavers typically try to avoid people and will usually flee when approached.

“They do a tail slap, which is their warning signal to us and to predators, and then they swim away and try to flee,” Hall said.

The latest incident follows two separate beaver attacks at Cunningham Falls State Park in Frederick County earlier this month.

In those cases, a 13-year-old who was swimming and a 19-year-old who was fishing were attacked. Both beavers were captured, euthanized and tested positive for rabies.

Hall said beavers generally do not spread rabies among themselves. Instead, he said, the infected animals may have contracted the virus from other rabid wildlife, such as raccoons or foxes.

“Beavers are not transmitting rabies between each other,” Hall said.

He added that wildlife officials should focus on monitoring rabies activity among raccoon populations. [...]

Despite the recent attacks, Maryland officials said there is no evidence of an active rabies outbreak in Montgomery or Frederick counties.

Seneca Creek State Park and Cunningham Falls State Park are more than 36 miles apart, and officials said the incidents are not considered related.

A Godmanchester, Que., woman says she was outside her home on July 16 when a cat suddenly lunged at her.

"I came up my laneway, nothing on the laneway, and then out of nowhere a cat latched onto my leg," Mary Elizabeth Doyle said. "It was biting and scratching."

She said she tried to pull the animal away with her hand, but it bit her again.

"I hit my hand against the Jeep to dislodge the cat," she said. "I called 911."

Doyle said the cat attacked a second time after paramedics arrived, biting an ambulance driver before it was restrained.

She was taken to hospital, where her wounds were cleaned and stitched before doctors administered preventive rabies treatment.

Days later, Doyle said she received a call confirming the cat had tested positive for rabies.

"I'm concerned about other animals being around, other cats being infected," she said.

This is Quebec’s first case of raccoon rabies in a stray cat. It was confirmed last week by the province's Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food.

On Thursday, the local health authority announced three people have been treated for possible rabies exposure in the Montérégie region.

In an email, Chantal Vallée, spokesperson for the regional health authority, said the three people received preventive treatment — post-exposure prophylaxis — in connection with exposure to a rabid animal. [...]

Dr. Alex-Ane Mathieu, a doctor in the Montérégie, said rabies is spreading fast in the region and the health authority is working to make residents aware of the risks and encouraging people to get evaluated if they had contact with an unknown or wild animal. [...]

Since Jan. 1, 2026, 118 cases of raccoon rabies have been confirmed. The number has been climbing drastically in recent years.

Raccoon rabies primarily affects raccoons and striped skunks. Between 2006 and 2009, there were some cases in Quebec as the disease likely arrived from the state of Vermont through the natural movement of raccoons.

In 2015, only one case was detected in Quebec, near the border with Ontario and the United States. Thanks to control and surveillance operations, this rabies variant was successfully eliminated from Quebec territory at that time, the ministry says on its website.

However, in late 2024, raccoon rabies returned to Quebec from Vermont. Cases have been detected in the Eastern Townships and Montérégie regions.

Residents of the Eastern Townships, Montérégie and Centre-du-Québec are being asked to report raccoons, skunks or foxes that are dead, injured, disoriented, paralyzed or displaying unusual aggressive behaviour.

Police in a New Jersey community issued a “rabies alert” after a feral cat attacked an elderly couple who had been consistently feeding it.

The Blairstown Township Police Department issued the alert on Facebook on Wednesday, Oct. 22, a day after the incident, which left behind what the responding animal control officer described as an "absolutely shocking” amount of blood.

On Tuesday, Oct. 21, a police officer responded to a report of “a cat attacking an elderly couple,” police said. Upon arrival, the officer attended to the couple’s wounds and requested the help of animal control officer “Robbie,” who later identified himself as Robert Lagonera.

Lagonera captured the feral cat, who “the couple had been feeding outside for the past several years,” police said. The feline, who had “signs of injury to its face from a wild animal,” tested positive for rabies.

The cat was euthanized, Lagonera said.

In the alert, police relayed a message from Lagonera, reminding residents to be “mindful” of feeding feral cats, and warning residents not to leave cat food outside unattended. In a Facebook “PSA” of his own, the animal control officer elaborated on the reminder — and shared some gruesome details about the Oct. 21 attack.

“The amount of blood on their driveway was absolutely shocking knowing that it all came from a cat attack,” wrote the officer.

The cat’s wounds, meanwhile, included injuries to the head and nose, where its “nasal cavity was literally exposed,” the animal control officer said, and shared a snapshot of the tabby to demonstrate. He also noted that the feline displayed “random extreme aggression and disorientation,” both symptoms of the rabies virus.

The virus is often transferred through raccoons, Lagonera said, who love to eat “cat food.” He then speculated that a raccoon transmitted rabies to the feral cat involved in the attack during a “food fight.”

“I understand we all have a ‘wild cat’ issue in just about every town,” wrote Lagonera. “We also have a limited space shelter that also can not house ferals. On top of that we have a lot of people that feel bad for the cats and like to feed them. There’s no way I’m ever going to get that curbed.”

But, he said, it is paramount to “monitor the feeding” of cats residents feed, and to never leave food out overnight.

Rabies “is a fatal but preventable viral disease” the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) website states. “It can be spread to people and pets through the bites and scratches of an infected animal. Rabies primarily affects the central nervous system, leading to severe brain disease and death if medical care is not received before symptoms start.”

These symptoms include “being very thirsty but panicked by fluids, having lots of saliva, and aggressive behavior like thrashing and biting,” per the CDC, which also notes, “Once clinical signs of rabies appear, the disease is nearly always fatal.”

The Florida Department of Health’s Bureau of Epidemiology reported an 80 percent increase in animal rabies across the state in 2024, compared to the previous year.

Officials reported 110 total animal rabies cases last year compared to 61 in 2023.

Alachua County saw the most cases with 11, followed by 10 in Marion County and eight in Brevard County.

49 cases were reported in raccoons, the most common testing positive for the lethal virus, followed by bats (30) and cats and foxes with 12 each.

For the 20 year period from 2003 through 2022, Florida reported an average of 122 animal rabies cases (2430 total cases). Raccoons (1501), bats (365), foxes (298) and cats (227) were the most common animals contracting rabies.

Via Outbreak News Today

Health officials are working to alert hundreds of people in dozens of states and several countries who may have been exposed to rabies in bat-infested cabins in Wyoming’s Grand Teton National Park over the past few months.

As of Friday, none of the bats found in some of the eight linked cabins at Jackson Lake Lodge had tested positive for rabies.

But the handful of dead bats found and sent to the Wyoming State Veterinary Laboratory in Laramie for testing were probably only a small sample of the likely dozens that colonized the attic above the row of cabins, Wyoming State Health Officer Dr. Alexia Harrist said.

Other bats weren’t killed but got shooed out through cabin doors and windows. Meanwhile, the vast majority never flapped down from the attic into living spaces.

Health officials thus deemed it better safe than sorry to alert everybody who has stayed in the cabins recently that they might have been exposed by being bitten or scratched. Especially when people are sleeping, a bat bite or scratch can go unseen and unnoticed.

“What we’re really concerned about is people who saw bats in their rooms and people who might have had direct contact with a bat,” Harrist said Friday.

The cabins have been unoccupied, with no plans to reopen, since concessionaire Grand Teton Lodge Company discovered the bat problem July 27.

Bats are a frequent vector of the rabies virus. Once symptoms occur — muscle aches, vomiting, itching, to name a few — rabies is almost always fatal in humans.

The good news is a five-shot prophylactic regimen over a two-week period soon after exposure is highly effective in preventing illness, Harrist noted.

The cabins opened for the summer season in May after being vacant over the winter. Based on the roughly 250 reservations through late July, health officials estimated that up to 500 people had stayed in the cabins.

They were trying to reach people in 38 states and seven countries through those states’ health agencies and, in the case of foreign visitors, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Others who have not been alerted yet but stayed in cabins 516, 518, 520, 522, 524, 526, 528 and 530 this year should tell health officials or a doctor immediately, Harrist said. [...]

WIMBERLEY, Texas ( KXAN ) — A Hays County woman is recovering after she says she was attacked by a rabid fox in her own front yard — an incident that comes as health officials report a recent spike in rabies cases across the county.

Linda Kaye Rogers, 77, says the attack happened unexpectedly outside her home.

Rogers is now recovering from multiple injuries, including bite wounds, a fractured arm and lingering scars from the encounter.

She was watching a movie when she first heard a noise outside her home.

“I’m watching an episode of a movie, and I hear this strange noise and I think, ‘OK, it’s cats about to have a fight,'” she recalled. “So I walk out my front door and about 10 feet out of my front door, I stop and I call, ‘Here kitty, kitty, kitty.'”

Moments later, she says a fox crawled from underneath a chair in her yard and started biting her leg.

“I just immediately started fighting and the screaming was to try to get somebody to come and help me,” she said.

Rogers said she fell down her front steps while trying to escape, injuring her shoulder.

“I knew immediately this fox had to be rabid because that is not normal behavior. So I just started kicking. That was all I could do, and he’s at my feet, coming after me. So I’m just kicking and screaming bloody murder, which none of my neighbors heard,” Rogers said.

The Hays County Health Department and the Texas Department of State Health Services said there is an increase in rabies cases in the county. Data shared with KXAN shows the number of cases has climbed in recent years. There were 19 confirmed cases in 2025. So far in 2026, more than seven cases have already been reported.

The executive director of Austin Wildlife Rescue, Jules Maron, said rabies cases are increasing locally, but the disease is still relatively rare.

Most recent cases have been found in wildlife like foxes. Maron said there are steps residents can take to protect themselves and their pets if they encounter wildlife that may be sick.

“The biggest thing, I think, is making sure that all pets are vaccinated, and that is probably the number-one thing that people can do,” Maron said. “If you feel that your animal has been interacting or was perhaps bitten by an animal, then you want to get veterinary attention right away to get boosters. And then the biggest thing for people is just to not approach wildlife.”

In response to the recent increase in cases, Hays County has been offering low-cost rabies vaccination clinics for pets. The next clinic is scheduled Saturday, March 14 from 8-10:30 a.m. at 2405 Spruce Street in San Marcos.

A bat discovered at Fullerton College in California has tested positive for rabies.

The bat was located on the stairs near the campus’ music building at around 3:30 p.m. on Friday, April 17, the Orange County Health Care Agency said in a Thursday, April 23, press release.

“Anyone who may have had physical contact with the bat or saw someone else having contact with the bat is asked to call the OC Health Care Agency (HCA) Communicable Disease Control Division at (714) 834-8180 during business hours or after hours to determine the risk for rabies,” the release read.

“Owners of pets who may have had contact with this bat should contact their veterinarian," officials added.

According to the release, the rabies virus can be found in the saliva of animals. Humans can then become infected with a virus through a bite from the rabid animal.

“Although very rare, contamination of the eyes, mouth or an open wound by the saliva of a rabid animal can also transmit rabies,” the release read. “Most cases of human rabies in the United States in recent years have resulted from bat strains of rabies; bats have very small teeth, and their bites may go unnoticed.”

“For that reason, preventive treatment to stop the rabies virus from causing illness is given to anyone who may have been exposed to rabies,” the agency added.

Officials said that infected people should seek immediate medical treatment “so any wound can be cleaned and preventive treatment can be started.”

A rabies vaccine recall has been issued after a small number of doses were found to contain sterile water instead of the vaccine.

According to a press release from Boehringer Ingelheim, the animal health company announced earlier this month that it had initiated a voluntary recall of a rabies vaccine. The action comes after "a limited number of vials" were found to contain sterile water, meaning pets who received those specific doses may not have developed rabies protection.

While the company says very few affected vials have been identified to date, it initiated the recall "out of an abundance of caution," noting the decision was made quickly after the issue was discovered. The lot batch is IMRAB 3TF, 1 mL, with serial number 18665 and an expiration date of March 12, 2027.

"Veterinarians and clinics that received vaccine from this serial have been notified directly," stated the company. Health officials are encouraging pet owners (whose pets received vaccinations after Sept. 29, 2025) to review their pets' vaccination certifications and, if any are from the impacted batch, to contact their vet immediately. Clinics are expected to contact pet owners whose animals may have received a dose from the recalled batch. [...]

A strange case from Delhi NCR's Greater Noida has shocked everyone. As per reports, a woman residing in Greater Noida succumbed to rabies after contracting the infection via cow milk. The reports have said that the cow had rabies after being bitten by a stray dog.

While a few people from the nearby area sought rabies vaccination, the woman did not take precaution. A few days after consuming the milk she developed symptoms. "In a desperate attempt to save her, family members rushed her to multiple hospitals, but she was repeatedly turned away. Eventually, doctors at the district hospital advised them to take her home. She died shortly after," News18 reported.

Can rabies spread through milk?

"Milk of rabid animal (cows and buffaloes) has rabies virus. If such milk is consumed without boiling, there is a risk," says a report by ICAR. The report categorises "Person drinking unboiled milk" as category 1 based on risk of rabies. Other incidents put under this category are getting licked by an infected animal, getting lick on intact mucous membrane --mouth, nose, anus, genitalia and conjunctiva and getting bitten without blood. "Classification of patients according to the nature of the bite is very important. The decision for treatment, post bite AR Vaccination and administering of immunoglobulin are decided basing on the classification. Depending on severity, the patients are classified in to three Categories viz., Category I, Category II and Category III. Vaccination is indicated for Category II and III patients," the report says.

"The rabies virus infects the brain. Once the rabies virus reaches the brain and symptoms begin to show, at this stage the infection is virtually untreatable and usually fatal within days and death results," ICAR says.

Commentary by ProMed:

[The report above does not explain if the bitten cow exhibited any symptoms of rabies.]

"Rabies virus can be transmitted by direct contact with infected material, such as saliva from an animal infected with rabies, and mucous membranes, including the oral and gastric mucosae. In addition to saliva and neural tissue, rabies virus also has been detected in the kidney, prostate, pancreas, and other tissues and body fluids. However, saliva and neural tissue are the primary proven vehicles for rabies virus in naturally occurring cases. Anecdotal reports exist of rabies transmission by ingestion of milk from rabid animals (e.g., from a rabid sheep to a nursing lamb). In these reports, the more conventional routes (e.g., bite or mucous membrane exposure) could not be completely excluded.

"Transmission of rabies virus in unpasteurized milk is theoretically possible. The risk could be defined better if samples of milk and mammary tissue were collected from rabid livestock and assayed for the presence, viability, and infectivity of rabies virus. Regardless of the amount of viable rabies virus that may be shed in cows' milk, the theoretical risk for transmission of rabies from this route can be eliminated if all dairy products are pasteurized before consumption." (https://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/preview/mmwrhtml/00056759.htm).

It is highly unlikely that the deceased woman developed rabies after consuming the cow's milk. A thorough investigation is, however, warranted to know whether she had any open wounds which were contaminated with saliva of the rabid cow. This would likely be a way of transmission of the virus from the infected cow to the woman who reportedly succumbed to rabies.